The Platinum Collection
by Totally Raven
Summary: A Fairy Boys tribute: A series of oneshots about the life, times and loves of Sirius and Remus (mostly), inspired by David Bowie songs. Slash, lemon. Sequel to 'The Prettiest Star' but can be read alone. UPDATED.
1. Breaking Glass

A/N: So here we are: in true Fairy Boys style I am writing a sequel in the form of a series of short stories, vignettes and drabbles based on or inspired by David Bowie song titles and lyrics. However, instead of doing the entire 'Best Of' I am doing five song/ stories from each disc of The Platinum Collection.

This is the first installment inspired by the '77 song 'Breaking Glass' from _Low_. This is set about two years ater Hogwarts and Remus and Sirius are living together. Don't worry, they won't all be this short! Oh ho ho ho, I also watched _Velvet Goldmine_ today. :)

Disclaimer: The song isn't mine, the boys aren't mine.

* * *

Breaking Glass

It was the crash that woke him – that horrible cracking, splintering sound of glass shattering on the floor.

Sirius sat up straight in bed, whispering, "_Lumos_," as he fumbled on the bedside table for his wand. A small beam of light enhanced the room and Sirius shone it around to see Remus twisting and flailing in the bed beside him, whimpering and growling in his sleep.

Sirius was so used to Remus' nightmares by now that the movements didn't wake him anymore. But the glass would, every time.

"Oi," Sirius prodded Remus in the side with his wand, wary of getting too close. He had once attempted to shake Remus awake during a nightmare only to get a solid wallop on the nose. He had been so traumatised by the hideous swelling, which had lasted nearly four days, that he would never touch Remus directly now until he was awake. "Oi, Remus... Remmie, wake up."

The sharp point of the wand must have worked; suddenly Remus flopped onto his back and lay perfectly still. "What?" he whispered in a cracked voice.

Sirius waved his wand in an arc and the whole bedroom lit up. Remus flung an arm over his eyes. Sirius leaned over his boyfriend's body to peer down the far side of the bed. He sighed. "Oh, Remus, not again..."

"What?" Remus said again, twisting underneath Sirius (ooh!) to look as well. Remus' water glass was smashed all over the floor. "Oh... sorry."

"That's it, Remus. You cannot have a glass in here anymore. This is the sixth time this has happened!"

"Oh nonsense," Remus said, sliding himself out from under Sirius and hauling himself out of bed. He stepped carefully around the broken glass and went out of the room. Sirius could hear him rumbling around in the kitchen for a pan for the glass and a cloth for the wet carpet.

Sirius kept looking down at the remains of the cup, a playful smile on his lips.

Remus came back into the room, grumbling something about the 'perks of being a werewolf'. "Hey, Remus," Sirius said.

"Mmm?" Remus replied, not paying much attention as he grabbed his own wand and knelt down to the floor to tidy the mess he'd made.

"Have a look at the puddle from here."

Remus sighed, rubbed his eyes, and pulled himself up onto the bed, clambering on to Sirius' back and looking over his shoulder at the pool sinking into the carpet.

"See?" Sirius asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"What?" Remus asked, yawning in his ear.

Sirius grinned wider. "Well, from this angle, that water kinda looks just like Peter."

"Peter?"

"Mm," Sirius paused for dramatic effect. "If he was screwing Snape."

Remus groaned, which Sirius actually thought was quite nice considering Remus was still draped over him like a throw rug. "Oh, Sirius, that's awful."

Sirius laughed maniacally, rolling over as Remus began to crawl off of him. He wrapped his arms tightly around the werewolf's thin waist. Remus put up a token struggle before succumbing to Sirius' (manly and powerful!) grip. Sirius pursed his lips up and made straining, kissy noises until Remus smiled and rolled his eyes and kissed him.

"Mm," Sirius murmured and smiled up into Remus' face when they broke apart. His hands trailed down Remus' back, tickling the bare skin and making Remus shiver. When he did, their bodies pressed together in a beautiful way. Sirius let his hands wander down to the waistband of Remus' pyjama pants, fingers creeping under the elastic, running over Remus' buttocks and grasping them, pushing Remus' hips into his own. "Oohoh." Sirius grinned.

Remus blushed (so gorgeous, how he _still_ did that) and rolled his eyes, but he was leaning back in for another kiss, his arms coming around Sirius' body. Remus had the softest lips, Sirius always thought. Soft and supple but _firm_ and _powerful_. Everything about Remus was soft and _powerful_. Sweet, but deadly, that was Remus.

"Baby, you're such a wonderful person," Sirius said, breaking the kiss for only a moment. "But you got problems..."

Remus growled at him, unhappy. Sirius couldn't tell if it was the stopping kissing or the words that upset him, though. He grinned at Remus, and then rolled over, sending his lover sprawling haphazardly across the bed and nearly off the end of the mattress. Sirius was staring at the pool on the carpet again when Remus finally crawled back up beside him.

"Don't look at the carpet! It's awful, Sirius!" With those words, Remus climbed back off the bed and began to tidy up the spill. "I'll never touch you again, argh, _why_ do I have to mop this up? All I can think about now is Peter and Snape!"

"You're welcome," Sirius said sincerely, smiling warmly and then yawning. "And of course you'll touch me again. C'mere."

"No, Sirius," Remus said. He sounded tired and unamused all of a sudden. Probably upset with Sirius for near throwing him off the bed.

"C'mere," Sirius repeated, stretching both arms out and doing his best to look forlorn. Remus looked at him and rolled his eyes, but shuffled across the safe part of the carpet to hug Sirius. It was somewhat awkward, what with the latter lying down, but nice nonetheless.

"Clean it in the morning," Sirius whispered, "and come back to bed. It's not a big deal."

"I'll step on glass if I leave it 'til the morning."

"Deservedly, as you're the one always breaking glasses in here."

"Sirius, it is the middle of the night! How can you be so chipper?"

Sirius smiled neutrally and kissed his boyfriend gently. "Just one of my many talents."

"Many talents," Remus snorted, turning back to the floor and clearing the last of the glass before nudging Sirius across and sliding back into the bed. "Many talents my left foot."

Sirius waved his wand again as they settled back under the sheets. The arc of light diminished, pinpointing itself again at the lip of his wand. They looked at each other in the dim, heads close together on the pillows. "Would you like me to prove my many talents?" Sirius asked, his voice low and cheeky.

Remus yawned widely in his face. "Maybe in the morning."

"Okay," Sirius agreed, snuggling in. "So long as you don't go interrupting my pretty sleep no more."

"I promise."

"And I mean it – you're not having glasses in here anymore."

"Okay."

"Okay."

"Goodnight, Sirius."

"Goodnight, baby," Sirius replied, and extinguished the light.

* * *

I love this song, so that's why it's first. I hope you all enjoyed this bit of a teaser, and I'll try to keep the installments, well not too far apart. Thanks!

And extra special thanks to reviewers from The Prettiest Star. If not for your loyal interest, I wouldn't be bothering with this. :)


	2. Ziggy Stardust

A/N: Ehee, well, it's been a few weeks but here is chapter two! I thank all my wonderful reviewers, I love you guys so much and I sincerely apologise if I haven't replied to any emails you've sent me (I know there are a couple ;) ) but I've recently began studying again and it takes up SOOO much time.

Now then, this chapter is a little longer, and is inspired by 'Ziggy Stardust' from Bowie's marvellous '72 _The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars_. It is set late in the Marauder's fifth year, let's say roughly a year before the _end_ of The Prettiest Star. I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Uh, whatever I've already said. :D

* * *

Ziggy Stardust

It all started with Sirius.

"We should start a band!"

"Yeah, zounds!"

"Cool!"

"A band?"

"Can any of you play instruments?"

This was the semi-drunken talk at four o'clock in the morning for a group of five Gryffindor fifth years. It was early April and the night was cool. They were probably all a bit young to be seriously drinking, but the day had been spent in Hogsmeade and two crates of butterbeer had returned with them.

The group consisted of the four Marauders, favourites among their year and with most of the younger students as well. Claudia, affectionately known as an 'honorary' Marauder was also with them.

She seemed less than impressed with Sirius' suggestion that the team form a band. Remus, the resident friendly werewolf, was also pretty reluctant. But the other two boys had perked out of a sleepy stupor with excited faces. James waved away Claudia's voice of reasonable questioning with a dismissive hand.

"We _completely_ ought to start a band! 'James Potter and the Pigsty Boys'."

"_Pigsty_?"

"Boys?"

"_James_?"

Only Remus kept quiet, watching these exchanges.

"How about 'Sirius Black and the Harley Davidson's'?"

"... What does that even mean?" James frowned and poked Sirius in the side with his toe. He was seated in his favourite chair, Sirius reclining on the hearth rug. Remus and Peter were occupying opposite ends of the couch and Claudia had the chair across from James.

"What about 'Sadie and the Po Boys'?" this was Claudia's contribution. It seemed she had already been swept up in the boys' excitement, but her statement gleaned her four very confused stares. She had the good grace to blush. "Well, I am the only girl so ... and y'know, 'Sexy Sadie'. By the Beatles?"

Remus knew. Remus liked the Beatles.

"Forget the names. We can't be a band if none of us can play or sing." It was unlike Peter to say something so sensible. "My mum made me take piano as a kid. I might be able to remember some of it."

"Very good," Sirius rubbed his hands together, all business. "I can sing, and play guitar."

Remus snorted. Everyone looked at him. Eyeing Sirius through his fringe, Remus clarified, "I know you can play guitar, poorly, but Sirius, you cannot sing."

Sirius frowned at him and threw a bottle cap, before turning to Claudia. "What about you, sweet? You gonna be my back-up singer?"

"I could do that. Or I could play the drums. I did percussion in my muggle primary school back in France."

"Good enough." Sirius shrugged and turned his gaze to James.

"I had a ukulele as a kid."

Sirius blinked repeatedly. "Um... okay. Bass, then?"

All eyes turned to Remus. "That just leaves you, Moony," Sirius said, bobbing his head from side to side, grinning expectantly.

Remus clenched his teeth, jutting his bottom lip out in defiance. Silence drew out...

The whole gang started on him.

"C'mon, Moony, we're all in."

"Yeah, solidarity!"

"We can't be a band without all of us!"

"All for one, old boy."

Remus ground his teeth.

"Rem..."

"Moony..."

"C'mon..."

"Old boy..."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Fine," he growled through gritted teeth.

"Yeah!"

"Yay!"

"Woot!"

"Zounds!"

"Right then," Sirius said, dropping himself onto his back and waving his hands at the ceiling. "So the next question is what are our names gonna be? People in bands have cool names, not like 'Peter' and 'James'." Sirius poked his tongue out.

"What about the Beatles?" Claudia asked again. "John, Paul, George and Ringo?"

"Dude, stop going on about the Beatles! They're has-beens, anyway. Plus, Ringo is a cool name," Sirius said, playing air guitar to the spiders in the webs on the roof.

"Well, I might be ... Julio." James smirked at them all.

"_Julio_?" Sirius sounded aghast. Claudia sniggered and Remus rolled his eyes.

"You suggest something better then!"

"Fine," Sirius said, flipping over and sneering at James. "My band name will be ... Solar Duke."

The group burst into laughter, Remus included, but when the hilarity died down Claudia was nodding sagely. "It's very cool."

The sun was coming up by the time the rest of the names had been picked, with Sirius being the driving force. He let Claudia be Sexy Sadie and dubbed Peter 'Satie', which Sirius himself found highly amusing. James became Jam and Remus became Weird.

"W-hy?" Remus asked, eyes narrowed on Sirius. He still was not happy about the whole situation.

"Because you are weird," Sirius said amiably.

Remus pouted.

The band as a whole was christened 'Solar and the Flares'.

"So we all have to wear flares when we perform," Sirius declared in closing.

"I don't have any," James said, one eyebrow cocked, butterbeer bottle halfway to his lips.

"I think they're uncomfortable," Peter followed up.

Sirius perused them appraisingly, tongue poking through his teeth. "You'll learn to love them, Petie. James, you'll have to borrow a pair of mine, I guess, until we can buy you some. They'll be too long but that'll add to their appeal."

Remus had his feet up on the couch, in Peter's lap. His head was cushioned on the arm rest, he was letting the drivel Sirius continued to ramble drift over him. It was all talk and planning for nothing. They couldn't possibly form a band...

Remus woke up several hours later, uncomfortable on the couch, to find Sirius' beaming face leering over him.

"Argh! Why are you so close to me?"

"Band practice!" Sirius crowed cheerily. "C'mon."

Remus was given just enough time to brush his teeth and change into flares, at Sirius' insistence, and then the brunet dragged him out of the house rooms and down the hallway. They met the others in the Room of Requirement - it looked like inside of a car shed, scattered with boxes and crates and crummy, second hand instruments. A lone microphone stand had pride of place in the middle of the room.

Peter was standing at a keyboard, banging out the Vienna waltz with many mistakes. Beside him Claudia was seated at a drum kit, timidly tapping each drum with her wand.

James was seated awkwardly on a crate, poring over a book on music theory.

"Well? What's your instrument, Remie-Rem?"

_Oh no_. Remus couldn't conceal his eye roll. "I've played acoustic guitar since I was nine," he finally said on a sigh.

Everybody looked at him surprise. "Never knew that," James said, shoving his glasses higher up his nose.

Remus shrugged.

"Always with the secrets, eh, Moony?" Peter said, throwing Remus a thumbs-up.

Sirius looked floored. He recovered quickly, passing Remus an electric guitar and setting himself up in front of the microphone, swinging a guitar over his own body.

"Ah hah!" James suddenly yelped, startling them all. When they turned to look, he was prodding his bass with his wand and muttering under his breath.

"Get it together Jam, c'mon, we're starting. Whaddya reckon, something by Little Richard or Elton John to start with?"

Remus groaned. "Oh, Merlin, Elton John, Sirius please. I couldn't bear to hear you screeching 'Long Tall Sally' at this time of the morning."

Peter chuckled. "Remus, it's after one o'clock."

Remus ignored him.

In the end, Remus decided it didn't make much difference what they played, not if Sirius was to be their singer.

The 'practice session' started with Sirius holding the guitar upside down.

"Sirius, it goes the other way around. You're not even left-handed, what the hell?"

"Shut up, James, or I'll take my jeans back and you'll have to practice trouser-less."

Next Claudia attempted to form the beat. It ended up as a lot of crashing with the occasional well-placed bang.

Peter's music was definitely rusty, but at least he could follow the tune, even if he played the wrong chords or hit two keys at once.

Sirius began to _sing_. Remus wanted to puncture his eardrums with icepicks.

James was perfect.

"_Now you're in the world_!" Sirius caterwauled at the end.

Claudia played an unartistic closing volley on her drum kit as Peter stumbled to an end. Remus finished as the sheet music dictated, though he was unused to the weight of a guitar across his bony shoulders.

James' ending was perfect.

Remus threw the instrument off. "Thank god that's over. Now that we've tried and seen that we are all awful I think we can agree we don't want to be a band."

"Don't be ridiculous, Moony Weird!" Sirius flung a friendly arm about him. Remus shivered and felt a flush begin to creep up his neck. "We just need practice! Makes perfect, you know. And then we'll all be as good as Jim-bo. That must have been some ukulele."

"Huh. Yeah," James said, not meeting anybody's eyes as he sat back down on his crate, and sneaky smile echoing on his lips. It gave way into a sudden frown. "Don't call me Jim-bo."

"Give it a chance, Remus," Peter said, smiling placidly. "It's just for a lark."

"Lark nothing," Sirius insisted. "We're gonna be _huge_."

The next few weeks involved a lot of terrible, _terrible_ practice sessions. Remus spent his time feeling deaf after practice and wishing he _was_ deaf during them. Peter's mediocre playing improved and became passable. James continued to be perfect. Claudia couldn't get it right and didn't seem to be trying. And Sirius believed himself to be a musical genius.

"David Bowie eat your heart out," he sighed happily one evening, throwing himself onto the couch beside Remus. "How long do you think it will be before people are begging us to sign records and take photos with them?"

"A very long time, mate," Remus replied, distracted and hard of hearing regardless, as he frowned over his Potions homework.

"Ah, boo on you, Weird." Sirius turned instead to Claudia, who also seemed to agree that despite the uselessness of the group's music-making ability they would indeed find some fans.

"I've organised for us to do a _gig_," Claudia was saying, trying out the new jargon, "after the Quidditch final tomorrow. After Gryffindor wins we'll be able to entertain the huge party they'll throw!"

"_What_?" Remus exclaimed. "You never said we'd have to play to people!"

"Stage fright Moony? Never mind, you'll do fine," Sirius said brusquely, rubbing a hand roughly over Remus' head, rumpling his hair.

"It's got nothing to do with 'stage fright'," Remus said moodily, homework forgotten. "We suck! I don't wanna play in front of people. It's bad enough you roped me into this ridiculousness in the first place, I _am_ NOT going to embarrass myself further."

"Remus," Sirius looked at him, eyes wide and hurting. "We do _not_ 'suck'. We are brilliant. And with a nazz like me behind the mic we can't fail!"

Remus' reservations were dismissed by the others as well. James had a sly grin on his face when he said it would all be fine. "After all," he exclaimed. "My playing _is_ textbook perfect."

Remus frowned at them all unhappily and returned to his homework.

Gryffindor did, of course, win the Quidditch final the next day. And Sirius did indeed set up their instruments, on a floating platform, with the intention that the Marauders would play a 'gig'.

The levitating podium was covered in gold glitter. It was slippery under Remus' feet and skittered off the edges, glimmering up from the carpet.

Gryffindor house was in a riot. All of the Quidditch teams had come to celebrate, including the Slytherins. Most of the girls were clustered around the Ravenclaw team, fawning over their Keeper. Copious amounts of butterbeer were being consumed.

Sirius clambered up onto his makeshift stage and took up the microphone. "Yo, everyone!" he hollered. His voice carried over the din of merrymaking and, slowly, everyone in the room turned to face the central platform.

"Good to see you all," Sirius said, grinning and flipping his hair back. A sigh seemed to echo through the female portion of the room. From his corner, Remus rolled his eyes, then fixed them back on Sirius. He _was_ looking quite good, quite the rock star, in his skin tight, bright blue jeans and purple sequined bolero, hair slicked down into a tight ponytail that skittered across his shoulders. "Thought we might get this show on the road while we're all still sober enough to enjoy it."

There was a small laugh through the common room, barely anything, but Sirius bowed his head modestly. "So here's the band," Sirius waved at Claudia and Peter to take their places. Peter stepped up and turned to help his girlfriend. Sirius introduced them, "Sexy Sadie and Satie; they're out to change the nation."

A token applause clattered through the crowd. Sirius beamed and tipped his head from side to side, ponytail swishing in tandem. "Next I present to you Weird – he went to fight the Hauntings of the Shrieking Shack and lived to tell the tale!"

Remus growled and scowled at Sirius as the brunet reached out a hand to haul him up onto the stage. But the room was laughing. 'Relax' Sirius mouthed to him with a small smile, but his eyes were serious, slightly worried. Remus didn't like attention being drawn to the Shack, and it was clear Sirius knew he may have pushed the line. Yet Remus tried to force a smile and took his place on Sirius' right.

James was already climbing up on the other side, tripping over the long hems of his borrowed trousers. "And this is Jam, who stayed at home to starve." James grinned and waved and slid his bass over his head.

"And _I_!" Sirius announced loudly, throwing both his hands high up, "am Solar Duke! I want to turn the world!"

People in the audience were laughing. Remus felt heat draw up into his face; he felt a prize fool. Glancing around at his friends Remus realised they were all enjoying themselves and the crowd seemed to be as well - the laughter was more amused than derisive. Remus berated himself mentally. _You need to relax more_.

"Together we are Solar and the Flares! Singing for you five of the biggest hits, so far, of the undying Glam rock age. Hit it!"

That morning Sirius had run them through the songs they would be playing – or attempting to play. First on the score was 'Walk on the Wild Side' by Lou Reed. Remus was stunned to find they pulled it off moderately well – James was playing as flawlessly as ever, Remus as well as usual. The relaxed structure meant that Sirius' tone deafness wasn't as apparent and Claudia kept her erratic drums under control.

The next two songs, 'Diamond Meadows' by T-Rex and 'Space Oddity' by David Bowie went similarly – certainly not music anyone could call _good_, but not bad enough for anyone to get up and walk away from. The audience was dancing or singing along, or laughing and clapping as they watched Sirius' attempts at stage performance. Then, it all fell apart during Elton John's 'Tiny Dancer'.

Sirius' broken vocal chords could not keep up to the lyrical demand and it was too complex for Peter's rusty keyboard. Claudia's inability to keep a beat became far more apparent with the subtlety of the song's drum line. Remus played well and so did James, but it wasn't enough to carry the others. There were many amused looks and the odd raised eyebrow circulating the room. One hiss came from someone who obviously took offence to having a favoured song slaughtered by noise polluters.

Finally, Sirius announced their final song. "Our big event for closing tonight: 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' by Iggy Pop and The Stooges!"

The audience cheered, though Remus could not be sure if this was because of the song choice or because they would _stop_ once it was played.

Remus played what the sheet music asked. James played textbook. Peter didn't really have a place for his piano in this song and so just plunked away at any old thing. Claudia and Sirius played much louder, far more erratically than the original artists. Claudia's enthusiastic drumming thundered away, following no real beat and making no real music. Sirius was hollering into the microphone to be heard over the top and between them they more or less drowned out the only reasonable sounds being made.

Part way through the song the screeching lyric began to tell on Sirius' voice, making it raspy and harsh. Strangely enough, it seemed to Remus that this made Sirius sound better.

The celebrating Gryffindors seemed to agree. There were huge cheers as Sirius cavorted about on the stage. His bolero came off and was slung over his shoulder – it landed unceremoniously on Claudia's head – her drumming became even more artless. Next, Sirius ripped his white school shirt open, buttons flying everywhere. One hit Remus on the cheek. The shirt flew into the audience, and a shriek arose from some happy girl.

Sirius came over to Remus as the song continued and threw his arm about the werewolf's shoulders, growling at him, "_Now I wanna be your dog_," staring intensely into Remus' eyes. The younger boy nearly missed a chord.

At the end of the song, Sirius threw his head back and howled. The effect was phenomenal – Remus stared and so did most everyone else. Sirius' arms were hanging loosely at his sides, his back was stretched out , ponytail dragging down, smooth, snow white skin gleaming as glitter fell from the roof to cover them all. Sirius' bare throat was exposed, and Remus couldn't take his eyes off that smooth, vulnerable skin.

When the howl finished, the Gryffindor house erupted in sound, cheers and hollers driving Remus back into the realms of deafness, and people began clambering up onto the glitter-soaked platform. Remus found himself swamped by girls, mostly third and fourth years, all trying to touch him, touch the guitar draped across him, wrapping their arms around his thin frame, tangling hands into his hair.

"Help!" he heard himself yelp. "Sirius, help, I'm drowning!"

Remus tried desperately to turn, the girls following him, kissing his cheeks and shoulders, whimpering adoring words into his ears. Remus finally caught a glimpse of Sirius – he too was disappearing under the weight of numerous fan-girls. There were boys in the crowd too, shaking hands and clapping backs and asking Claudia for dates.

Peter and James were similarly enveloped by admirers. Remus couldn't think why they were being congratulated so much; anyone with half of an ear could clearly tell the band was a fraud. And yet, they seemed to have won the crowd over.

"Pity Potter's guitar is enchanted!" a loud, feminine cry suddenly sounded out over the din of the fans.

It was slow, but everyone quieted and turned to look at James. His expression was sheepish as he ran a hand through his untameable hair. Then Sirius and Peter both started to laugh. "Wish I'd thought of that!" Sirius crowed, and the ruckus fired up again.

It took Remus quite some time to get away. Finally he was able to hide himself under a table, shaking glitter out of his hair when Sirius joined him shortly after.

"You okay, Moony-Moon?" Sirius asked, serious for once. He hadn't retrieved his shirt and his bare shoulders and arms had goosebumps rising on them, the fine hairs standing on end atop his well-toned muscles.

"Yeah. Bit overwhelmed. Confused."

"Confused?" Sirius repeated, curiously.

"We suck as a band!" Remus exploded. "Why did they like it?"

It was very unusual for Sirius to ever completely drop his outlandish behaviour, but he did now. "We may suck, but people always like a nice face and a good show. Even if our musical ability is awful, the show we just did was okay. We're all of us okay looking, and people like to pretend they know celebrities – so that's what they're making us into."

Remus eyed Sirius narrowly. "That doesn't make sense to me."

Sirius smiled. "You're always the sensible one. Try to be a little crazy and weird, relax. You might enjoy it!"

"I've never enjoyed being in crowds. It's an instinct thing."

"I know." Sirius patted him on the arm. "I can be your guard dog, if that'll help."

Remus finally returned Sirius' smile. "Okay, Pads, if you like."

"I do like!" he said, reassuming his jovial exuberance. "Now, come and join the party."

Remus spent the remainder of the night under the table.

Over the next few weeks the boys' popularity increased. Remus took to spending much of his free time either in the prefect's bathroom or hiding out in the Shrieking Shack. Girls had taken to following him around, begging him to play them songs, touching his hair, bumping into him and giggling. Occasionally one of the boys might do the same, and Remus found the constant attention very trying.

Sirius, of course, thrived on it, singing (for lack of a better term...) to anyone and everyone who asked, playing his guitar in the common room in the evenings, which was more musically aesthetic, at least. He walked around everywhere with his school shirt unbuttoned and his hair in a low ponytail, humming under his breath.

When one of the fourth years had a birthday, the group was asked to play a gig. They performed a heavy rock version of happy birthday and 'Funny Funny' by Sweet. They were asked to play songs for pre-OWL parties in every house.

Sirius went everywhere with an entourage of girls and boys trailing behind him, looking lovesick. They carried his books and brushed his ponytail and buffed his shoes and cleaned his wand. Many tried to steal kisses and, one day, Remus even entered a shortcut corridor to find a fifth year Gryffindor propositioning his friend. Remus disentangled the brunet and they walked back to Gryffindor tower together.

Sirius smiled happily, pulling the black ribbon from his hair and shaking it out across his back. "Being famous is so lovely. D'you know, someone offered me a muggle smoking drug the other day? And the things that girl was willing to do to me..." Sirius giggled delightedly. "Why aren't you taking more enjoyment out of our success, Moony-kins?"

"Notoriety doesn't mean anything to me. I have enough friends," Remus replied, smiling.

"One can never have enough friends!" Sirius cried, clapping Remus heavily on the back.

For Sirius, this seemed to be true. As the time trickled on, the devotees appeared to focus on Sirius. James was busy trying to impress Lily Evans with his bass playing, but as she was the one who had blown the whistle on his charmed guitar he wasn't having much luck. For Peter and Claudia the fans were pointless, as they were preoccupied with each other.

So Sirius got the most attention from the other students, and this seemed to suit everybody. Sirius enjoyed the worship and the fans got their brush with their created celebrity.

"It's 'cause I have such a beautiful arse," he announced one day to the group as they were sitting around the fire. They all rolled their eyes.

The band appeared to be getting tiresome to the others. It had done nothing for James in the long run and the novelty had worn off for Peter and Claudia. As for Remus, he would have been quite happy for it to have never begun.

"I always thought I deserved to be adored," Sirius continued, stretching his legs out and idly rolling a cigarette back and forth between his fingers. "It's quite lovely to get what one deserves."

Yet Remus noticed a funny changing over the next few weeks. The more Sirius came to expect and request from his minions the less they seemed willing to give. Sirius didn't realise it until one evening when he sat down with Remus and tried to run his fingers through his hair, only to find it desperately tangled.

"How did this happen?" the boy asked, aghast.

Remus looked up distractedly from his Transfiguration revision. "Well, it's to be expected with fine hair like yours, isn't it?"

Sirius glared at him. "No. I meant, what happened to the little Hufflepuff who brushes it for me?"

"You have a Hufflepuff who brushes your hair?"

"She's a fan!" Sirius exclaimed. "Dear goodness, Moony Weird, do try and keep up."

"Well, I guess she's got bored of it, hasn't she?"

Sirius blinked. His expression was somewhere caught between mortified, disbelieving and _hideously_ offended.

But over the next week or two it became apparent this _was_ the case. Three sixth year prefects started playing music, covering the Mod styles. They were better than Solar and the Flares, though they lacked Sirius' panache for performing. It seemed Sirius' inspiration to start a band had created a cultural monster. And all of _his_ fans were slowly turning to celebrate this new phenomenon.

Eventually it got to the stage where Sirius was left to his own devices. The Marauder band stopped having regular 'practices'. They stopped being asked to perform.

"What happened!" Sirius lamented, one night, stretched out on the couch, arm thrown over his eyes. "We were doing so well! Everybody loved us!"

"Not everybody," James muttered darkly, scratching his nose with his quill and leaving remarkable ink smears behind.

"Well, that's fame, innit?" Peter asked, shuffling his favourite pack of cards before dealing them out to Claudia, Remus and himself.

"Not for me," Sirius pouted. "I should_ always_ be famous. It's what I deserve!"

"If you ask me," James said, "You've gotten exactly what you deserve. Treating all those young girls and boys like idiots and slaves I'm not surprised they wised up. Only that it took them so long to do so."

"James! How can you say so?"

"It actually costs me very little to say so, Padfoot," James said, already becoming distracted again by his homework.

"But what about the band?" Sirius lamented. "We were supposed to turn the world!"

"Sirius, for Merlin's sake. The band is over," Remus said, as he gestured to Peter for another card.

"What?" Sirius bleated, sitting up abruptly. He inadvertently kicked Remus who was squashed at the end of the couch. "It can't be over!"

"Sirius," Peter said calmly, "We're washed up. We've been passed over. No one cares anymore."

"And they'll pass over those prefects, too, don't worry," Claudia added, examining her cards closely.

"Washed up," Sirius repeated faintly, falling back onto the couch, staring at the ceiling. "Passed over. Dead. Dead and buried. No! How can it be?"

"We're not in demand anymore," Peter continued. "All our fans have found other shoes to lick."

"We used to lick _them_! Just by smiling! And they'd be on the floor, boom, totally licked. We were gods, everyone bowing down to us ... _oh_, how can it be _over_?"

"It just is, Sirius," Remus snapped, frowning at his cards. Damn, he was going to lose again.

Sirius kicked him, hard, in the hip and when Remus turned to face him the brunet was sulking poutily, silver eyes watering as if on cue.

"Sorry, not buying it," Remus said, scowling unhappily and rubbing his hurt hip. Sirius' eyes glanced down and a pale flush of colour slid up his neck, before the boy stuck his tongue out and leapt off the couch, tripping on his flares as he turned to face Remus, glaring. When he got no response, he kicked Remus again, with his bare toes this time into the werewolf's knee (blissfully unpainful!) and stormed off to the dorm room.

"Is the band really dead?" Claudia asked after a while, Peter dealing James into the game. She quirked an eyebrow at Remus.

"Yes." Remus said firmly.

"You breaking us up, Moony?" James asked, a sly grin curling the corner of his mouth.

"Yes. I am," Remus said, turning a Look on the bespectacled boy.

Remus presumed he, himself, must have looked very serious, for suddenly James burst into laughter and clapped him on the shoulder, breaking the tension as was his way whenever Remus abandoned his sense of humour. "I'm only teasing you, Moony-Moo-Moo. Makes no difference to me."

"Mm," Peter agreed, "It's all a bit 'been-there-done-that'."

"Why were you so against it to start with, Remus?" James squinted at him over the top of his glasses.

Remus shrugged. "You know me. I don't like being looked at."

"Yeah, but even before we started playing gigs you were negative," Claudia piped up, resting her chin in a palm and an elbow on one bent knee.

"Because it was stupid," Remus said quietly, eyeing his friends back narrowly. "I didn't get the point of it."

"The point was to have fun," James said, grinning and throwing an arm around Remus' shoulder, kissing him on the cheek and leaving behind an ink smudge before picking up his cards. "And we did. But now that's over, and it's okay."

The others nodded silent agreement as they started to play and Remus allowed a small smile. Then James said,

"But who knew Moony played guitar!"

* * *

A/N: Well, I hope you all liked it and I will try to keep updates as close together as possible - I already have a couple of half chapters coming along and others beginning to write themselves in my mind. Oh, and also, I hope that un-directed dialogue at the beginning isn't too confusing ... For fun you can guess who's who and I'll tell you if you're right! ;)

Thanks guys!


	3. Beauty and the Beast

A/N: Sigh. I deeply, profoundly apologise for the lateness of this chapter. Life has been very hectic, both professionally and personally, and I'm afraid this got pushed far down the list of priorities. As such, it hasn't been as thoroughly editted 'cause I just felt so guilty about not having updated! So, here it is!

This chapter is set in late November of the boys' fourth year at Hogwarts and is inspired by the Bowie song 'Beauty and the Beast' from the 1977 album "Heroes". Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Ah, whatever it said last time.

SPECIAL THANKS to my wonderful, patient, loyal reviewers: **gobalbucs** and **Ravenna Reckless**

* * *

Beauty and the Beast

**Hogsmeade. Sirius.**

Sirius was dancing his way down the street. He threw his arms out to one side and then the other, swaying and sashaying his way down the road. He was singing quietly to himself: "Oh no, not me. I never lost control..." He spun around in a circle, and then tripped on something, falling forwards and landing hard on his nose.

There was hair everywhere; that was all Sirius could see – masses and masses of long black hair. When he lifted his head, there was still just hair. Sirius rolled himself onto his back and thrust his mane back from his face with both hands. He blinked up at the sky. Standing above him was James, who was peering down through his glasses and laughing. "You asked for that one, Siri," the boy said.

Sirius scowled ferociously and sat himself up on his elbows. "I did not! Did you hear me say 'James, I'd like you to trip me over'? Did _you_?" Sirius turned his gaze on Peter, who was trying to hide his giggles.

"No, Sirius," Peter chuckled.

The three boys were spending the day in Hogsmeade, enjoying the warmth of the sun as they trawled the shops. Sirius had been rocking and rolling, weaving and singing, all morning. He supposed it might have been annoying his friends, but in truth he was trying to distract himself.

"C'mon, Siri," James cooed, stretching out one hand. "Smile at least."

"Yeah, give us a grin, Pads," Peter joined in, grinning himself, from ear to ear.

Sirius pouted but took James' proffered hand. "Don't call me Siri," he grumbled as the bespectacled brunet hauled him up.

"Wah," James replied, sticking out his tongue before kissing Sirius on the cheek and flinging an arm around his shoulder. "C'mon. Where were we headed?"

They had been headed to a clothing store. Sirius wanted a new belt.

The three boys turned down a narrow street to a small, mildly run down store on the outskirts of Hogsmeade that sold muggle clothing. Most of the clothing was modern fashion sold for the purpose of helping the wizard community on the occasions they had to meld with muggles.

Sirius bought a new belt. And two shirts and a vest as well, all designed to suit his sense of Glam fashion. Peter bought a pair of sunglasses covered in rhinestones and James bought a red belt with a large glittery star for a buckle.

They walked back out into the wonderfully sunny day. The Shrieking Shack loomed out of the distance at the end of the street and suddenly all the joy from his retail therapy was sucked out of Sirius' body.

The Shrieking Shack. _My my_, Sirius thought blankly, staring at it.

**Hogwarts. Gryffindor house rooms. Remus.**

Remus was spending the day in bed. He felt painful, throughout his entire body. Tonight it would be full moon. Once upon a time Remus had ranted and rallied at the full moon, at the moon in general. Now, however, he had experienced enough transformations to understand that getting angry didn't solve anything.

Still, the emotion still saw fit to remind him.

So that was part of the reason he was in bed. Because today he just wasn't fit company for anybody. And the other reason was the pain coursing through him. Part of him was disappointed to be missing the trip into Hogsmeade. A butterbeer in the Hogs Head and a visit to Honeydukes would have cheered him up no end. But Remus was used to missing out.

Sometimes he would stop and think about what it meant to be a werewolf. The pain. The anger. The isolation. The unfairness of the whole situation. The problem was, essentially, that it was a simple fact of Remus' life and being disgruntled wouldn't fix the situation. So he had come to accept it. In a strange way, Remus was often too nice to people he knew, and he understood that this was a way to make up for the horror he knew he was capable of.

Remus supposed all people were capable of horror. But for him, it was a constant state within him. A constant pulling, _lure_, to darkness. Like a separate person, wearing his skin, a sinister person. Perhaps that was why he engaged in so much mischief with his friends. To even out darkness with light hearted humour.

Sometimes Remus would wonder if he was _really_ a nice person or if he just acted that way because of the Bite.

He had been bitten so young he really couldn't tell. But when all was said and done, he _felt_ like a nice person.

His friends seemed to agree.

It basically came down to him being one thing in the daytime, and another during the night. At least, one night a month.

Remus turned over, somewhat violently, in his bed, shrugging the blankets higher about his chin. These sorts of thoughts just wouldn't do. He wanted to sleep, but it wouldn't come. He wanted his mind to quiet, but it wouldn't.

Eventually, aching through every bone and muscle fibre, Remus sat himself up on the side of the bed, hauling the blankets with him and wrapping them around his shoulders. He grabbed a shoebox from underneath his bed and slumped his way down the stairs to the common room. It was abandoned, as Remus had expected, and he spread himself out on the couch, cocooning himself in his blankets. Once comfortable, Remus slid the lid off of the shoebox. It was his survival box, containing everything he turned to when feeling especially bad.

Remus was surprised that Sirius didn't raid this box – Remus was well known for having a stash of chocolate about, but the emergency bars kept in his survival box never went missing. Neither did the bottles of butterbeer or his flask of Firewhisky. Also in the box was a copy of _Frankenstein_, a story that Remus could always relate to and that he turned to to cheer him up, despite its macabre face value. Finally, in the box, were two photographs – one was of all four of the Marauders, taken the year before, on Peter's fourteenth birthday. The other picture was just of Remus and Sirius.

The second picture was a recent addition to Remus' survival box. It had been taken only about a month before, at Halloween. The two boys had their arms around each other and were laughing, shoving each other playfully towards the edges of the picture frame and generally monkeying about. Remus was dressed as Peter Pan and Sirius was dressed as a priest. James had taken the photo.

Remus pulled it out now, and smiled, considering it. Sirius the priest had wound his shoulder-length hair up onto his head in an imitation of a tonsure, making his developing handsome features look childish and ridiculous. Remus had fluffy stubble on his chin, completely at odds with Peter Pan's ageless persona. Green wasn't his best colour either. He was wearing a sleeveless top and track pants that Sirius had helped him 'artistically tatter' with pointy, elfin shoes and a little cap with a feather in it. Everything was green, and Remus felt he looked sickly.

Sirius was wearing black robes, with a white collar and large silver cross with rosary beads hanging from a rope sash. He, of course, looked marvellous in black, gothic and mysterious, his silver eyes glimmering in the ghostly lighting of the Hogwarts Great Hall.

Remus smiled a little wider as he took in the photograph, pulling out a bottle of butterbeer and a bar of chocolate. He peeled back the wrapper and took an enormous bite, enjoying the run of caramel over his tongue. He snuggled into the blankets, the fire flickering across the hearth, and snapped open his butterbeer.

**Hogsmeade. The Hogs Head. Sirius.**

Three young boys were sitting at the bar of the Hogs Head. Three shots of Firewhisky stood boldly before them.

"Do you _feel_ it? The full moon, I mean," Peter questioned, knocking his shot back in one gulp. "I mean, not in the same way that Moony does," here Peter earned himself a nasty elbow in the ribs from James. The bartender squinted at them as he refilled the glasses. "But there is a _feel_ in the air."

"Danger," James nodded in agreement, gulping down his drink.

"Slaughter," Sirius muttered darkly, staring moodily into his glass.

The other two boys looked at him. "Well, that's cheery," James said, nudging Sirius with his elbow this time. "What's gotten up your nose all of a sudden?"

"Nothing!" Sirius said, somewhat snappily. "I'm just telling it like it is. There's a feel of slaughter in the air. Full moon is just like that. My old uncle Vulcan used to feel it. He would hide behind curtains and stupefy everyone who walked past him at full moon. He said if he didn't, one of them was bound to skin him alive."

James was blinking at him from behind his somewhat dirty shot glass. "Yes, but there's nothing normal about your family, Sirius."

"You're one to talk!" Sirius exploded and punched James in the arm, only half in fun.

"Relax! I'm only have a joke with you, Siri."

Sirius pouted grumpily. "We have got to come up with new nicknames, _Jim-bo_."

James scowled back.

"Well, when we've finished our extra-curricular studies," Peter said, draining his glass again and smiling cheerily as the bartender returned to refill it, "Perhaps we can have nicknames based on that. Like Moony does."

James shrugged, and Sirius mused on it, flicking his eyebrows slightly at the suggestion. He looked up through his eyelashes as the bartender wandered away again.

There was a spell of quiet amongst the boys. James finally, tentatively, broke it.

"Slaughter?"

Sirius looked at him seriously. "Absolutely."

James shook his head solemnly. "Poor Moony."

"He's got us," Peter said, far more chirpily. "It can't be all bad."

**Hogwarts. Gryffindor house rooms. Remus.**

It wasn't all bad. There were benefits to being a werewolf – heightened strength, speed, endurance. Instincts, smell, hearing. Healing. The upsides didn't outweigh the downfalls, however – the horror inside, the pain, the stress, the constant fear he faced from others.

Remus had fallen asleep on the couch in front of the fire. His survival box was stored neatly on the floor beside him, an empty bottle toppled next to it. The boy was half rolled onto his side, chocolate wrapper and book abandoned in his lap.

He had been reading, which had eased the stress on his mind. The warmth of the fire had relaxed the pain in his body and lulled him into an uneasy sleep.

He half-wakened as the portrait hole banged open and closed several times in close succession. People were beginning to come back from the Hogsmeade visit. Remus grumbled and pulled the blankets higher over his face.

Something heavy dropped onto his feet. "Oh, sorry ... Remus?"

That was Lily Evans' voice. The weight on his feet shifted, then moved completely. Remus could hear Lily folding her lanky body into the armchair next to the couch and beginning to laugh at some comment he had missed. Sighing, and rolling his eyes, he pushed the blankets back and forced himself to sit up somewhat. Blinking bleary eyes, Remus first noticed that the fire had been built up and was now roaring away.

Lily was rubbing her hands together. She was wearing flared jeans, damp around the bottom, and an enormously oversized yellow knitted jumper. Her green eyes were sparkling wildly as she laughed.

There was another girl, standing by the fire and bouncing up and down on her bright green-painted toes. From the cropped, curly hair and short stance there was only one person it could be – Claudia, Peter's girlfriend. She was wearing a long black skirt and a top that was too tight for her developing, curvaceous figure.

Remus groaned and stretched and sat up straighter. "Had a good day, Remus?" Claudia asked, squinting at him.

"Oh, fine," he replied, rubbing bony fingers across his aching eyes as the sharp pains in his bones returned with a vengeance.

"You don't look fine," Lily interjected.

"You don't look at _all_ well, Remus," Claudia added. She and Peter had been dating now for over six months and she was becoming friendly with the other boys too. She didn't know he was a werewolf – that was information Remus was still a very long time off of telling her. Remus appreciated her concern, but was shy of the attention. He sought desperately for some excuse.

Instead he got a distraction, in the form of three mildly drunk Marauders crashing their rambunctious way through the portrait hole and into the Gryffindor common room. They were singing a Scottish drinking song, something Remus recognised, that Peter had taught to the group.

The boys saw him watching them from the couch and bounded over. Peter stood beside his girlfriend, wrapping an arm around Claudia's shoulders. James sat at the end of the couch and kept glancing at Lily. Sirius tossed himself down beside Remus, one leg flinging itself carelessly into the werewolf's lap. Sirius narrowed his eyes and peered at him closely. "You don't look at all well, Rem," he announced as a greeting.

"So I keep hearing," Remus said, somewhat more grumpily than he intended.

Sirius ignored the unfriendly tone and replied, "Perhaps you should get yourself down to the hospital wing. Pomfrey might have something that can help." The older boy's look was loaded with meaning, mixed with some strange emotion that Remus couldn't read.

"What's the time?" Remus asked him, a mild fear creeping suddenly into the pit of his belly.

"Getting on for six," James said distractedly.

Remus stood up abruptly, swaying as pain lanced through his body and his mind swam at the sudden change in position. "D'you know, I think I will head down to the hospital wing."

"Good idea," Peter said in sudden reply, and Remus was grateful. He was clearly attempting to distract the girls, who both looked surprised and curious at Remus' sudden animation. "If you've been feeling that bad all day..."

"I'll come with you," Sirius said, standing with a smile and drawing Remus' arm through his, the way a gentleman would for a lady. Before Remus could protest, Sirius was steering him out of the common room and into the chilly Hogwarts corridors.

"It's bad today, huh?" the brunet asked once the portrait hole had closed behind them and they were alone.

Remus grimaced as he felt the pain intensify. "Very." He sighed. "I shouldn't have fallen asleep. I've left it too long... it's getting dark already."

He was right. Dusky shadows were stealing their way across the stones of the castle and a lone star was visible in the sky through the windows.

"I worry about you doing all this on your own. I mean," Sirius continued hurriedly as Remus was about to interrupt. "I know you always have. But I'm your mate, y'know? And I feel like I should be able to do more."

"Don't worry about it," Remus said idly, before realising that his offhand remark had upset his friend. Remus squeezed Sirius' arm and forced a smile. "I appreciate your concern," he said more gently. "And I am grateful. But it's my problem. You should be grateful you aren't involved."

"Well I'm not grateful," Sirius replied, belligerently, halting their progress down the hallway. The boys looked at each other. Remus saw that strange, unreadable expression in the other Marauder's eyes again, and inexplicably he felt his heart skip a beat. His voice came out shaky and weak when he spoke.

"Then I'll be grateful for us both."

For a long moment the two boys stared at each other, tense emotions bouncing between them, unknown and unrecognised emotions. Remus felt another whole kind of uncomfortable completely unrelated to the full moon.

Sirius' hand came up and clasped him by the shoulder. His broad finger tips dug bitingly into the sharp, aching bones. Remus felt a coil of nervousness twist in his gut and tore his eyes from Sirius' complicated gaze, looking instead at that hand gripping his emaciated shoulder.

Remus looked back up at his friend, utterly confused by the feeling that seemed to cocoon them both. Sirius searched his face before suddenly letting out a sigh. His hand dropped slightly and the brunet muttered, "C'mon. We don't have time for this."

Remus felt the spell of tension ease and he noticed his surroundings again. Shadows were creeping higher up the castle walls. "Shit," he said calmly, and the boys began to run towards the hospital wing.

Sirius' gentlemanly grip on Remus' arm had relaxed and slipped and as they ran, pain piercing Remus through every joint and worsening with each step, he realised they were now instead holding hands. Rather than feeling odd about being fourteen and holding hands with his best friend, he felt strangely comforted, as if the strength that Sirius wished to provide him with was being transferred through their joined fingers.

They were on the fifth floor when they ran – almost literally – into Madam Pomfrey. She looked rattled, frazzled, and snatched Remus' other hand. Sirius released him and when Remus turned to say thank you and good bye he noticed a closed, dispassionate look on his friend's face. But those eyes were still alive with emotion. Remus tapped Sirius on the shoulder and whispered, "Thanks," before Madam Pomfrey wrapped him in an enormous winter cloak and dragged him away.

**Hogwarts. Marauders' Dorm Room. Sirius.**

Sirius was pacing back and forth in front of the sole window in his dormitory. The pale gold curtains fluttered in the chill breeze. Winter wasn't far away.

The moon had risen hours ago, shining first brilliant, tangerine red, sliding up the sky, and paling through a myriad of hues before settling high in the atmosphere and beaming its bright silver glow.

Sirius could see shapes of trees, turrets and outbuildings in the moonlight, casting ghostly shadows. Once, long, long ago, he had thought the moonlight was beautiful. As a child, he would lie on the grass in his backyard and stare into the night sky for hours, until he fell asleep or his parents forced him inside. Stars fascinated him, drew him to them. The gothic glow of the moonlight had always appealed to him more than the daylight.

But not now, and not for several months past. When the Marauders had first discovered Remus was a werewolf, the full implications were not known to them. They had understood the theory behind what a werewolf was, but that idea was so far apart from the boy they had come to consider a friend, that the knowledge seemed false. In many ways the Marauders had considered it a wonderful secret.

As the months went past and they grew older, and _marginally_ more mature, the truth of the situation had sunk in. Heated tirades on the 'unfairness of it all' from Sirius had prompted James to research treatment of the werewolf condition. He had discovered that in medieval times, there had been what might be considered a werewolf epidemic, and several strategies had been tried and tested to control the outbreak of lycanthropy.

The only one that had had any long term benefit for the medieval witches was The Pack, a strategy that had grouped werewolves together. The lycanthropes had drawn strength from each other in their human time, and roamed together in the manner of a wolf pack during the full moon, which had proven to reduce the spread of the werewolf DNA.

It was that discovery which had led the Marauders to the decision to become Animagi. James had thrown his research books down on Peter's bed and declared triumphantly, "_We_ will be Remus' Pack."

Peter had looked utterly confused. "But we're not werewolves. And uh, I don't _really_ want to be one..."

James had slapped him in the back of his twelve year old blond head. "I'm sure Remus doesn't either! No, you dolt, that wasn't what I meant. Obviously we can't be there for Remus as humans, but I _reckon_ this Pack idea will work for other animals, not just for a group of 'wolves. And animals, even wizards in animal form, aren't affected by the Bite, I've looked right into all of this, it's sound!"

"Far out," Sirius had whispered, studying the page James had thrown open for them. He had looked up at his friend, impressed and excited. "But what if we all transform into mice or something and Remus tries to eat us?"

"That's something we won't know until we've tried," James had said, incredibly business-like, despite the fact that his voice had not yet broken.

They had been practicing now for two years. The study involved was dense and difficult, and Peter, who was brilliant with Charms and less skilled at Transfiguration, struggled – but the boys were getting there. Sirius thought it wouldn't be too much longer before they were truly Animagi.

Sirius paced past the window a few more times. His thick hair swung heavily into his face as he tossed his head to face the window once more. "Ragh!" he growled in frustration, and turned once more, throwing himself across the nearest bed.

"Ow, Black, gerroff."

Sirius lifted his head, hair swamping his vision. Grumbling a little more he shoved the dark tresses back from his face and shifted himself, moving to sit on the side of Peter's bed. He had fallen into the curtains, causing them to crumple across the mattress. Peter pushed the hangings back out and slid them open, rolling to face the brunet. The younger boy was lying across his bed, one arm folded under his head. Claudia and Lily were sitting cross legged beside him.

Sirius was too distracted to do more than raise one suspicious eyebrow.

"What's wrong with you, then?" Peter said lazily, looking at him with a small, secret smile perched on his lips. His Mancunian accent, which had faded over the few years of living at Hogwarts, always became more pronounced when he was sleepy. At least, Sirius assumed his friend was sleepy. He looked it.

"Nothing," Sirius said, trying to keep the grouchiness out of his voice, and flicking his eyes across at the girls.

Peter sighed and slouched his way out of bed, dragging Sirius by the shoulder and out of the room. Once the door was shut, Peter squinted his way down his narrow nose at Sirius.

Sirius glared back up. Peter had grown quickly, shooting up the year before, towering over every other boy in their year. The others were all just starting to catch up.

"Y'know Remus is fine, right?" Peter asked.

Sirius nodded moodily.

"So what's the problem?"

Sirius shrugged, feeling silly. "I'm just ... off today," he said finally.

Peter squinted at him through sandy eyelashes, blinking dopily. "Well, _off_ somewhere else, you're disturbing me and the girls. Go for a walk. Sit in the Astronomy tower for a while. Do something to relax yourself."

"Yeah..." Sirius said, forcing himself to smile at his friend. "I'll go for a walk."

He did. He left the tower and walked around three floors before taking Peter's advice and going to the Astronomy tower. He lay on the rampart, staring at the sky. The stars made him feel better, but that moon hung full and bright in the sky and he couldn't relax.

He thought about Remus, how he had seemed that afternoon. It bothered Sirius that he was so worried about Remus when the latter appeared so accepting of his condition. Sirius supposed if he had been dealing with a reoccurring condition he'd have gotten used to it as well.

Sirius wasn't really given to reflection much. He was the oldest of his friends, at fifteen, but he resisted the maturity that James liked to pretend to, that Peter couldn't hope for and that Remus already had. Yet now, his heart felt so unsettled that he reckoned reflection was the only course of action.

Not that there was really a lot to reflect on. Sirius had always known he was different from other boys. When other boys had chased girls, he had grown his hair out. When other boys wore jeans, Sirius stole his mother's lipstick.

In the wizarding world, homosexuality was not frowned upon. It was not taboo. Sirius had never hidden his sexuality from any of his friends, because as far as he could see, there was nothing to hide. But recently something had changed. There was something different; something that he didn't want made public knowledge.

He had strange, sexually charged dreams. When his teenage urges came upon him, they were always accompanied by the same person's image. His irrational feelings of concern and frustration came from wanting to help someone he cared about. Someone who was beyond the help he could offer. Someone who wouldn't accept his help anyway...

Remus...

"You're in love with him," Sirius whispered to the cool night wind.

He didn't know how to feel about that.

Which really was ridiculous, Sirius thought. When one loved someone, one ought to feel happy. And loving, obviously. But Sirius felt incompetent, unworthy, afraid, angry, concerned... all of that and love as well.

"Love sucks..." Sirius grumbled, kicking one foot idly in agitation.

He couldn't hope that Remus might feel the same way. Earlier, that afternoon, when they had been alone together in the hallway, all Sirius had wanted to do was kiss his friend. Staring into each other's eyes had caused a terrible tension, and Sirius had known in the moment when Remus had looked away that there was no possibility that he could tell his friend the truth.

Sirius knew lovesickness was common among teenagers. He thought that it might pass. And if it didn't ... well, Sirius decided he would rather be Remus' friend than destroy that. "It'll pass," Sirius whispered. He wasn't sure he believed it.

The boy sat up gingerly, realising he was shivering, and slid off the wall. Walking back to Gryffindor tower shortly after, Sirius came across James.

"Hey, brother," James chuckled at him. "You look cold."

"I am," Sirius replied mildly, shrugging his shoulders and falling into step with his friend. "Been outside."

"Astronomy tower?"

"Mhm."

James nodded sagely at him, blinking behind his glasses. "I thought something was up with you today." A pause. "Remus?"

"Yeah..."

James didn't say anything more. In his hands he had Transfiguration books from the library's Restricted Section and chocolate muffins from the kitchen.

"What's Pete up to tonight then?" James asked, looking across at the brunet.

"When I last saw him he was in bed with Claudia and Evans."

"WHAT?!" James shrieked. Sirius flicked an eyebrow, a smile quirking one corner of his mouth. "I mean," James said a moment later, getting his voice under control, "like, what? What were they, uh, doing?"

"Dunno," Sirius said, a cheeky smile sliding across his face. Yep, love sucked alright. At least someone else could suffer with him. "All their clothes were on though."

James still looked vaguely terrified and Sirius noticed that their pace suddenly increased.

It wasn't much later when they finally returned to the dormitory. The room was cold; Peter was standing by the open window, the girls nowhere about, drinking a butterbeer. James gave their friend an odd look, before bombarding him with flustered questions about how he'd his evening.

Sirius ignored the exchange, and slid himself into bed after changing into his grey, silk pyjamas. He drew the hangings around the bed, blocking out the moon. The sounds of Peter and James talking was soothing, a monotonous drone in the background of his super-charged brain.

Sleep that night was a long time in coming.

**Hogsmeade. The Shrieking Shack. James.**

The morning was far colder than any morning in November, late in the month or not, had a right to be. James trudged his way through the dewy grass of the Hogwarts grounds, Peter beside him, creeping steadily beneath the Invisibility cloak. Sirius had run along in front of them, unconcerned about being caught outside the castle before curfew was lifted. The risk was minimal; the only person James had seen since the boys had left Gryffindor tower was Hagrid, heading for the Forbidden Forest. Even Madam Pomfrey wasn't about yet.

Peter's teeth were chattering. James could hear them. It annoyed him.

James himself was shivering through his oversized woollen jumper. His mother had knitted it for him, deliberately too big, two years ago, so that he could grow into it. It was among the most comfortable of his clothes to wear, and he felt reassured against the horror of the full moon for wearing it.

The sun was only just starting to creep up at this time of the day, filtering hazy light across the glittering, damp morning. Remus should be transforming back now; by the time they reached the Shrieking Shack, he would be safely human again.

James could see the Whomping Willow ahead of them, its branches still in the cold breeze. Sirius had clearly reached it and was probably already in the hidden passageway.

The two younger boys crossed the grass in silence. Nearby, the Giant Squid thrashed the surface of the Great Lake and birdsong began to lilt through the air.

The sun was burning an orange glow between the horizon and the sky when they reached the tree. Kneeling at the edge of the once-again flailing branches, James took a careful aim and spat. A solid spit ball landed directly on the knot in the trunk, which they had long since learned froze the tree. They had discovered it, of course, by following Remus one night, in early third year, taking full advantage of James' Invisibility cloak. Remus had told them all the next day that he had known they were following him anyway – superior senses, he had said.

The spit ball made its mark and the Willow stopped abruptly. James and Peter scurried quickly into the passage. The air there was damp and cold, colder still as James whipped the Invisibility cloak off of the two of them and rolled it into a rough ball. He shoved it carelessly into the deep pocket of his winter cloak, pulling the thick garment closer around his sports-toned shoulders.

"Brr," Peter muttered.

James threw him a sidelong look. Peter had pulled out a muggle fire device, something he called a 'lighter'. He flipped his finger over the lever and a flicker of fire licked its way into the air. It didn't make a lot of difference to their visibility, but James was able to pick out the smudged, irregular prints from Sirius' shoes. The boy himself was nowhere to be seen.

The flame from Peter's lighter created strange shadows against the walls of the passage. James and Peter trudged along in silence, James faking a yawn to stop himself from pressing Peter for more answers about his actions the night before. Peter was playing his cards very close to his chest on that one, but apart from the obvious, James could simply see no reason for Lily to be in his bed.

"Can't tell you. Sorry," was all the information James had been able to get; aside from very mundane excuses, along the lines of 'studying for their Charms homework'. It was driving James utterly mad, but when Peter was hell-bent on keeping a secret, nothing could pull it from him.

James was trying to think of a topic to distract himself from pestering Peter. His rational mind told him the latter would only lead him to aggravation, and the fair part of his brain told him that whatever Peter was doing with the two girls was between them – and ultimately, despite being obsessed with Lily Evans, James had no hold over her, no say in her life.

A strained howl came all of a sudden, from somewhere above them, a chilling sound, followed by a heavy crash that made dirt crumble down from overhead. James and Peter spared each other a brief, panicked glance, then, shaking earth from his head, James led the pair of them into a headlong flight towards the end of the passage. The only sounds were the beatings of their hearts and their shoes. One of James' laces had come undone; his shoe flew off behind him, and he sprinted on without it.

Reaching the stairway in record time, James still mentally berated himself for not being faster, and another strange sound echoed down the staircase. He didn't wait to see if Peter was behind him, knowing in the sensible part of his brain that running into a room with a werewolf, who may not yet be safe, and without back up, was suicide; but he barrelled up the staircase anyway, and down the small hallway to the room where Remus endured his transformations. After a moment, James could hear the thud of Peter's shoes on the dusty stairs behind him.

He flung himself into the rundown bedroom. The door had been left open, James assumed by Sirius. Skidding to a stop on the dusty floor, James thumbed his glasses furiously up his nose and glared about the room, bent over slightly, one hand planted squarely on his knee as he recovered his breath.

Peter skittered into the room behind him, throwing up a fresh cloud of dust and James squinted, waiting for his eyes to adjust. His heart was beating out a rapid signal as he looked frantically through the morning gloom for his friends. The cool night had left a misty fog in the room; but eventually he spied them.

The two of them were in the furthest corner of the room, between the end of the bed and the wall, a threadbare blanket crumpled around them. Remus was collapsed on the floor – James thought he looked unconscious, and severely hurt. Sirius was sitting awkwardly beside him, holding one of their friend's hands in his own and pushing hair out of Remus' face with the other.

Sucking in a deep, dusty breath, James crossed the room, trying to look adult and unruffled. Peter fell into step beside him.

Sirius looked up as they came closer, an odd expression on his face.

"You alright?" James asked, his eyes raking over Sirius' body for evidence of injury. "We heard noises – a bang."

Sirius turned his gaze back to Remus, idly pushing back another lock of hair from the latter's face. "I'm fine," the older boy said, his voice quiet. Remus rolled his head, eyelids flickering, and groaned painfully. James saw Sirius give his hand a tight squeeze. "When I came in, Remus was only just transformed back, but he howled at me and lunged. I wasn't in any danger," he said quickly, evidently seeing that James was about to interrupt him. "Because he _was_ transformed. But I don't think he was trying to attack me. I think he was just happy to see a friend. A part of The Pack. What happened to your shoe?" Sirius asked suddenly, turning back to Remus and patting down the hair that had tumbled loose across his forehead.

"Came off. Did he hurt you?" James asked, squinting down at them, and feeling the chill of the morning replace the adrenaline in his blood.

"Of course not," Sirius said, his voice soft again, almost distracted, but also mildly scornful in that way that was pure Sirius. "No, he just launched himself at me. I hit the wall, and he started biting me, but gentle." A tiny smile flittered across Sirius' face, gone as quickly as it had appeared. He opened his mouth as if to speak, shut it soundlessly instead.

"Is he okay?" James asked quietly, after another moment.

Sirius nodded, his own hair falling about his face in a graceful, swinging curtain. "I think so. After he tackled me he sort of just flopped over with a howl-y noise and passed out." James saw Sirius shiver, though he pulled the blanket further over Remus instead of himself.

James looked out the window. The sun was creeping higher up the horizon, bright yellow dimmed by the fog. After a few minutes he said, "We should get back. Pomfrey'll be on her way soon. We don't wanna get caught."

"She already knows, I'm sure of it," Peter said, adjusting his cloak.

"Of course she does," Sirius said, his inflection softly scornful once again. James couldn't see his face.

"She suspects." He said in reply, "But we don't need to let her catch us. If she did, she'd tell Dumbledore, and that's a conversation I'd rather not have. For Remus' sake as well as ours. C'mon. Let's go."

"I'll stay a little longer," Sirius said.

"You will not."

Sirius looked up at him. He didn't made no sound, but that odd look was back on his face. Sad, deeply sad, but also angry, and more as well; complex emotions battling for position.

James grumbled and pulled his Invisibility Cloak from his pocket. "Why can't you just be good?" he snapped, tossing the balled-up garment at his friend.

Sirius didn't answer but gave him a tight, thankful smile.

James tipped his head at Peter, indicating that they should leave while they still had a chance, before Pomfrey came past the Willow. "Don't be long," James called back behind him as the two boys left the room and headed out into the grimy hallway.

Once they were on the stairs and out of earshot, James said quietly to Peter, "It's so bloody _obvious_. How come they don't see it?"

Peter quirked a confused eyebrow at him. "Who, see what?"

James paused for a minute, a frustrated scream welling soundlessly in his mind. He let out a long, heavy sigh. "Never mind."

* * *

A/N: So I hope you enjoyed it! I wanted to work in some more song references, but they kinda didn't happen and working them in would have meant considerable time re-writing, so I hope the story still flows without them. This became a bit darker than I intended.

I was a bit concerned that the tension between the boys in the corridor was poorly written - I don't write a lot of angst! So I would appreciate feedback on that part. Thank you so much!


	4. Oh! You Pretty Things

A/N: Here we are with another short one. I've decided to take a different direction with this sequel - I am now doing a set of stories that will flow on from each other - a type of 'day in the life of' thing. So this is the second story for that, following on from Breaking Glass. Hopefully you think it works and you like it!

The rest of the chapters will continue as before; random oneshots into the history of Remus and Sirius.

This chapter is inspired by 'Oh! You Pretty Things' from Bowie's '71 album "Hunky Dory". Thank you again to my wonderful reviewers, **gobalbucs** and **Ravenna Reckless**. You're reviews make me very happy, so thanks. :)

Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing but the idea...

* * *

Oh! You Pretty Things

"Wake up, you sleepy darling."

Sirius blinked his way into wakefulness. Remus materialised before him, smiling, wrapped in a dark red silk gown. The younger boy was sitting on the side of their bed, a breakfast tray perched precariously over his lap. The bedroom fire had been built up, staving off the chill of the winter morning.

Sirius shifted himself upward, into a sitting position, groaning and stretching as he did so, settling himself against the wooden head board. "G'morning," he said gently, smiling sweetly at his boyfriend, leaning forward and pressing a delicate kiss to the boy's lips.

"I've made some breakfast," Remus said, after returning the kiss. "And coffee."

"Mmm," Sirius sounded his appreciation. "How come?"

"Least I could do," Remus said with a shrug, a slight flush creeping up his neck, "after last night." There was an adorably sheepish expression on the werewolf's face.

Sirius grinned, reached out and snaked one hand around Remus' shoulders, the other wrapped around a warm mug of coffee. "And yet," he said, then took a sip and burnt his mouth. He sucked air in through his teeth to cool the scald before continuing. "And yet," he started again after a moment, "You _still_ brought glasses into the bedroom!" Sirius nodded at the tray, which was laden down with croissants and porridge, coffee, and fresh orange juice in tall glasses.

Remus wouldn't meet his eyes. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

Sirius slid his hand down Remus' arm until he was able to twine their fingers together. "You can't help it," he replied gently, setting the coffee cup down on Remus' tray and picking up a croissant instead. He bit into it, closing his eyes and moaning happily. "Oh, you really are wonderful. Really you are. Love croissants. Oh, yummy."

A smile cracked the solemnity of Remus' face and Sirius felt that he had achieved a good deed for the day. For Remus, being a werewolf was not a once-a-month condition, but a daily nightmare. Some days, or nights, it drove them both insane, but it was a part of their lives, which they had both learned to cope with. Though, Sirius could surely do without the night terrors that caused damp carpets and shattered their glassware. The image of Peter and Snape locked in a watery embrace was branded forever into his brain – utterly awful, just as Remus had insisted – but Sirius still found it hilarious. He began to giggle around his mouthful of pastry.

"Do stop it, you bad man," Remus said mildly, responding, Sirius assumed, not to the laughing but to Sirius' put-on sexiness. Still, a smile was tugging at the corners of the younger boy's mouth. Sirius threw in one more groan for good measure, then licked his fingers free of buttery crumbs.

The boys ate for a little in silence, Remus draining both glasses of orange juice after Sirius took his coffee. Remus took sugar and no milk and Sirius liked both, but he drank it anyway, mumbling that caffeine was his best friend.

"Thanks very much," Remus replied, deadpan, but with a gentle smile, placing the empty tray down on the floor.

Sirius stretched again and slid down the bed a little, reclining, and blinking at Remus lazily. "What next, lover?" Sirius asked, a sly grin sliding its way across his pouty mouth. "You gonna run me a bath, put my coat on for me? Hm?"

"Dunno 'bout all that," Remus said, leaning in towards Sirius, reaching out as if to put his arms around the older boy.

Sirius suddenly flung his own arms out wide, rolling away from Remus' embrace and sprawling across the bed with a cheeky, lopsided grin. "My bed!" he cried. "No room for you!"

Remus drew himself up, sitting tall and proud and glaring down his nose with a stuffy, offended expression on his face. Sirius peered at him sideways from the awkward position he found he had tumbled into, slumped across the pillows. For a moment he thought his playful gesture had been misunderstood, and that he had hurt his dearest's feelings.

"No room for me, no fun for you," Remus said suddenly, his tone filled with meaning and utterly alleviating Sirius' sudden concern. The werewolf flicked a suggestive eyebrow, one corner of his mouth quirking slightly.

Sirius felt a sweet smile flutter onto his face despite himself. "Oh?" he said, trying to sound coy and failing completely.

"Oh," Remus repeated, moving close again. This time Sirius didn't move as one of Remus' arms wrapped tight around his shoulders, the other hand settling against Sirius' cheek as their lips met.

The kiss was warm and comfortable. Sirius felt Remus' body cover his own, the blankets pressed between them. Remus lightly bit the brunet's lower lip, and Sirius shuddered, his skin becoming suddenly sensitive, a rush of blood shooting down his abdomen. He felt Remus smile against his lips; that bite had always had the same erotic result.

Sirius sucked in a gasping, shaky breath, before returning to the kiss, deepening it. His tongue slid sensuously across Remus' own; their bodies shifted together, well used to each other. Sirius raked one hand through the growth that graced Remus' jaw, dragged that hand down Remus' long, smooth neck and across his chest, sliding underneath the warm slip of red silk that covered him.

A short growl echoed in Remus' throat as Sirius ran that hand down to Remus' waist, deftly loosing the knot that held the robe closed. It fell open; Sirius slid both of his arms around the younger boy's waist, running them feverishly across the soft flesh as Remus wrapped one hand into Sirius' long hair, tugging it carelessly.

Sirius gasped and arced his body closer to Remus' as the younger boy shoved the blankets away and their bare chests touched, skin to hot skin. Remus' hand found its way to the waistband of Sirius' boxers, tucking practised fingers under the elastic...

"Gah...!" Sirius pulled away from the kiss, his head falling heavily back against the pillows at that first, hyper-sensitive touch.

After that, neither young man was really aware of much apart from each other. Had the Apocalypse come, had the sky split open and an ethereal hand reached down for them both, they wouldn't have noticed. They didn't see the sun rising higher in the sky behind the curtains. They didn't notice the golden light in the room dimming gradually as the fire began to burn down. They made their own fire, and kept the room hot. They let time slip away. They were lost in each other.

Afterwards, they lay side by side. Remus was stretched out on his back, Sirius facing him, one hand trailing idly across the werewolf's chest. "Mmm," he murmured contentedly. "You're right, that was fun."

"Glad you made room for me, huh?" Remus said calmly, a smile in his voice as his head turned and his lips pressed, smooth and warm, to Sirius' forehead. The brunet closed his eyes briefly, feeling purely blissful.

"Mhm," he replied, moving into the warmth of Remus' touch. "You are one superior person."

"Oh yeah?" Sirius could hear the coy curve of Remus' mouth.

"Yeah," he said, rolling onto his chest and raising himself up on one elbow, leaning slightly across Remus and gazing at his boyfriend. His other hand ran up the length of Remus' chest, over the delicate skin of his neck and settled against the bony curve of the younger boy's mandible. Sirius rubbed his thumb through the hairs there, somehow both soft and brittle simultaneously.

Sirius' hair had come loose from the plait he wore it in while sleeping, and fell in gentle kinks onto Remus' chest. Remus was toying with them, a pleasurable smile on his face. Sirius smiled happily in return at his lover, enjoying the laziness of the morning. There was a sudden dull thump at the bedroom window.

Remus heaved in a huge, peaceful sigh. "Newspaper. C'mon."

"Hey?" Sirius said, startled by the interruption, pressing his hand into Remus' cheek to make the younger boy look at him. There was another thump. "You're not getting up?"

"Yes," Remus said, a sweet, surprised grin sliding onto his face. "News. Gotta get that paper in before the owl gives itself a concussion."

Sirius moaned unhappily as Remus slid his body out from underneath him. The grumble came again, ten times more emphatic as Remus threw open the curtains and let in the bright morning light. It slapped Sirius in the face, blinding him for a second.

"C'mon," Remus said again and Sirius squinted at him between fingers that were failing to keep the sharp glare from hurting his eyes. "Put on some clothes. Out of bed. We're meant to be going to lunch with your folks today."

"Oh _goodness_," Sirius exclaimed, flopping onto his back. "Is that what we're here for? Come back to bed."

Sirius was glad he had covered his eyes up again when he heard Remus start laughing at him.

Sirius was always incredibly happy when Remus laughed, but was never quite _so_ pleased when that laugh was directed at himself.

"Oh, you silly creature. Get up."

Sirius pouted, rolled over and sat, naked, on the side of the bed. "Fine," he said, reaching for his red denim flares. "Let's go drive mummy and daddy insane for a day. But when we got home, you're gonna owe me."

* * *

A/N: So hopefully you liked it. I know it is a shameless fluff chapter with no real substance, but hey, this is mainly romance after all! I have pushed this chapter out quickly; I hope it doesn't show too obviously and I will be aiming (though I won't promise) to get the next chapter out in a couple weeks and get the updates back on track.

Thank you for reading, I appreciate it!


	5. Sounds and Vision

A/N: Well, here we go with another chapter! Not up as quickly as I had hoped, and only a short one this time, but I've been working along as quickly as I can. I hope everyone likes it.

A million thanks to **gobalbucs**. Your reviews have been so wonderful, so thank you so much!

This chapter is inspired (loosely) by 'Sounds and Vision' from Bowie's 1977 album 'Low'. And don't worry, I have big plans for the coming chapters, and the girls will be back and so will the VG references (I'd better watch that again too).

Disclaimer: Much as before

Warning: There is an expletive in this chapter.

* * *

Sound and Vision

Peter was waving his wand around, tapping it every so often against the wall. When he did, it would change colour. Remus stood beside him, arms crossed, frowning slightly.

"Red?" Peter asked, and tapped the wall. It became scarlet.

Remus shook his head abruptly. Peter waved and tapped again. "Orange?"

Remus scrutinised the bright colour, frown deepening. "Maybe..."

"Blue!" James called loudly from across the room.

"Blue?" Peter asked Remus.

Remus considered it, running his tongue across his top teeth as he mulled the suggestion over. "Maybe..." he repeated, before asking the others, "_Electric_ blue?"

"Brilliant," James replied, coming over to the other boys. Peter swished his wand and tapped the wall. The stones of Hogwarts castle changed from vibrant orange to shocking, deep electric blue. It was a strange look on the stones, and the colour hurt the boys' eyes. But there were pleased nods from all three as they surveyed their shared bedroom. "What's next?" James asked after a moment, before crossing back through the dorm to his step ladder and paper chains.

"The bed," Remus replied, his frown easing as he walked over to the far wall with the new silk quilt in his hands.

James, grinning enormously, said, "Well we'll leave that to you." Peter chuckled.

Remus fought to keep down the flush that was threatening to creep up his neck. He mostly succeeded, though only because after spreading the new quilt across his lover's bed he moved to the dormitory's open window, and leant out it into the cool breeze.

The boys were planning a birthday surprise for Sirius. For all of their six full years spent together at Hogwarts, Sirius had never once revealed the date of his birthday. The other Marauders gave him birthday presents at Christmas time, and only knew that he was the oldest of the four.

Secrecy wasn't usually a part of Sirius' nature – the group reserved that luxury for their friendly werewolf. But the date of his birth was one thing that Sirius was incredibly shut off about.

For the first three years at Hogwarts, the Marauders had continually pestered Sirius, trying to get him to confess his birthday. Nothing they had ever said, threatened, or bribed him with had ever yielded results. In the following years, they had let the subject drop – as they all grew older, Sirius had gotten touchier and grumpier when asked, and even Remus' offer of sexual favours as an enticement had generated utter failure.

But being Sirius' boyfriend had still given Remus an edge. He had gotten the elusive date from Sirius' parents one lazy Easter evening during their sixth year. Naturally, the boy had immediately told his two other friends the brunet's deepest, darkest secret.

None of them had stopped to consider what Sirius' reaction might be to the surprise party they were throwing him.

Sirius himself was hidden away in the Quidditch team rooms. He was idly flicking through some of James' plays and plans for the year – the bespectacled boy had found out over the summer that he was to be Gryffindor Quidditch captain, and had spent half the time since drawing up every idea he got.

Sirius was avoiding his friends. Usually on his birthday, he just pretended like it was any other day, and he did so convincingly. The others had never been able to _guess_ his birthday in any case, and it was not through a lack of trying. Eventually they had given it up, though occasionally one or another of them would mention it, or try to discover the reasons that Sirius kept his birth date so private.

There was only one reason. Embarrassment.

Sirius found his birth date terribly humiliating. Ridiculous, his parents said, everybody had to be born some day.

Sirius just would have preferred a different day.

He rummaged through James' sketches, flicking up an impressed eyebrow. James was often trying to convince his friends to try out for the Quidditch team. Neither Sirius nor Remus had any interest, Peter didn't like competitive flying and Claudia had left the team when her breasts began catching the Quaffle for her. Her friend, Marie, was still the team Keeper.

Suddenly the door to the Quidditch rooms flew open. The light had faded outside, and it was windy and cold, a light rain drizzling. A dark, damp figure stood silhouetted in the doorway. Sirius turned to face it.

"There you are," came a friendly voice, and James stepped into the room, wiping his dripping glasses on an equally damp, red top. He shook his head in a decidedly stag-like manner and put his streaky glasses back on. They immediately fogged up, but James left them on regardless.

"'Ello, mate," Sirius replied, dragging a smile onto his face.

James came across the room to him. He glanced down at the table; saw his plays spread out. "Didn't expect you to be out here," James said, moving his eyes up to meet Sirius'. "Always thought you reckoned sports were for lunk-heads."

"They are," Sirius said airily, pushing his chair back and balancing it on two legs. He beamed his most charming smile at James, flipping a stray lock of hair back from his face. "But you draw ever-so pretty."

"Why thank you, my good sir," James replied, beaming back and then slapping Sirius on the shoulder. "Anyway, I didn't actually come out here to discuss my artistic prowess with you. Came to see if you're gonna come inside. Remus brought a bottle of Firewhisky with him on the train, and everyone's favourite chocolate. Thought we'd make a night of it. So?"

A frown creased Sirius' face. The idea seemed too much like a birthday party to be appealing, though of course it couldn't be.

Sirius snuffed in a breath and shrugged his shoulders. "I might just stay here, actually. Quite nice, sitting right here, listening to the rain. Why don't you sit down? Wait for it to pass."

James squinted his eyes into a mild frown, drips of water falling from his hair. "Don't be stupid. We have _Firewhisky_."

Sirius considered his options. He could spend his birthday alone, in the increasingly cold and damp Quidditch room, or he could be inside, listening to music, drinking warming Firewhisky in the autumn evening with his closest friends.

Considered that way, his reluctance was ridiculous.

Sirius stood up and gave James a mild, lopsided smile, gesturing for the sodden boy to lead the way.

They chatted mildly as they made their way up to Gryffindor tower, both of them entirely soaked in the time it took to cross the grounds and reach the castle. Sirius shook out his long hair, dog-like, the shudder coursing all the way through his body. James thanked him with a hard thump to the arm as he was spattered by the flying droplets.

Gryffindor common room was surprisingly quiet when the boys entered. There were only a few groups of people around; it wasn't late. Sirius supposed there were several groups meeting and was grateful, as they continued through the room uninterrupted.

James stopped at the foot of the stairs, bending to fiddle with the decorative laces up the side of his low-platform ankle boots. "Go on up, I'm right behind."

Sirius arched a suspicious eyebrow, but clomped up the stairs. He felt James' presence behind him as he reached out and twisted the lion's head door handle, shoving the door gently. It swung open and Sirius felt his jaw drop as James' hand pushed into his back. He stumbled into the room and heard James slam the door behind them.

The room was a blinding shock of blue. Sirius blinked wildly. The whole dormitory had been transformed – electric blue walls, multi-coloured, glittery paper chains dangling from every inch of the ceiling, pale curtains at the window flapping in the breeze. And best of all, a vibrant patchwork silk quilt was spread across his bed.

Sirius felt blood boil into his cheeks, heat flushing his brain. "What the fuck?" he snapped, turning furiously to face James, who was standing behind him with an enormous, joyful grin plastered to his face.

The smirk never wavered as Sirius shoved James, hard with his shoulder and tried to burst back through the door. He never had the chance; the door suddenly crashed open, hitting Sirius hard in the hip. He fell backwards, gasping, and landed hard on the floor. Peter stepped into the room, a large box in his hands, and raised his eyebrows in mild surprise. "Hi, mate," he said calmly, and wandered over to his bed, revealing Remus in the doorway behind him.

The werewolf looked concerned as he stepped into the room. James shut the door behind him and locked it, the grin on his face wider than ever. Remus knelt down beside Sirius, a frown gracing his features. "You okay, puppy?"

Sirius scowled up at him in reply, rubbing his hip. He growled, "_How did you find out_?"

Remus flushed. "Your parents told me. You're not happy? We tried really hard..."

"No, I'm not happy! Didn't you think there was a reason I never told you my birthday?"

Remus looked terribly upset. He was fiddling with his hair. Sirius was still angry, but felt the heat of the emotion subside gradually as he looked at his lover and realised that his friends were only attempting to do something nice for him. Remus' lip was trembling slightly as he opened his mouth to reply.

James intervened, saying, "Calm down, princess. We're being good to you." And James bent down, leaning in close, grinning even more maniacally right in Sirius' face. He kissed the boy sloppily on the cheek and then hauled him to his feet. Sirius stumbled, rubbed his hip one more time and then felt a smile slide unbidden onto his face.

It was impossible to stay angry when James told a person not to be. Such was James power as a leader.

Sirius turned to Remus, who had raised himself from his knee. He wrapped his lover into a warm hug, delighted when Remus instantly relaxed against him. Sirius felt warm lips press against his neck, through his dripping hair. "I love you," he whispered softly, so that only Remus could hear him. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Remus replied and kissed him again.

They stepped apart and Sirius turned to face the others, who had begun to set up a strange sort of picnic on the floor between Remus' and James' beds.

Sirius sucked in a deep breath through his nostrils. "Well. So you've figured it out. Are you happy?"

"Excessively," Peter replied, cheerily, for them all.

"Well, I don't want to hear anything about it," Sirius said, shoulders square and tone defensive. "No jokes. No nothing."

"You what?" Peter queried, looking completely befuddled.

"What are you talking about?" James asked.

"I'm _talking_ about," Sirius said, very slowly, so that even a person with the intelligence of a four year old, such as his friends, would understand him, "you lot taking the piss about me being born one day too late."

"One day too late for what?" Peter's tone matched the utterly bemused look on his face.

"For first year!" Sirius cried. "I had to wait an entire year to start school because I'm born on the second of September! _One day _too late! It's humiliating!"

James was frowning at him in a way that Sirius interpreted as meaning that James thought he was the biggest idiot on the planet.

"You're an idiot," James said a second later.

Sirius pouted.

"Is that why you never told us your birthday?" Peter sounded incredulous. "And you're supposed to be _smart_. As if we'd care that you're a year older than us."

Sirius pouted.

Remus put one arm about him and kissed him on the top of his damp head. "You're just a big stupid, really, aren't you?" he said.

Sirius pouted.

"I hope your face freezes like that," James said, looking at him. A mischievous gleam appeared in his eyes and he reached for his wand.

"_O_-kay!" Sirius snapped. "Fine. Whatever. Pass me a butterbeer."

"Come and sit down. Sit right there," James pointed at the floor. "Peter, put some music on."

Sirius moved to sit, grasping Remus' hand and dragging the younger boy with him as Peter placed a record on Remus' player. They all sat down together, in a rough circle. Sirius slid his arm around Remus' waist, but couldn't get a decent grip on his boyfriend – Remus was wearing a red silk shirt, cuffs unbuttoned, and looking very sexy in it too. Sirius leant across the tiny gap between them and kissed Remus on the sensitive skin just below his ear. "I love you," he whispered.

Remus smiled, turning his head. "And I love you." The smile faltered, and he said, "Are you sure this is alright? I didn't mean to upset you..."

Sirius shrugged, feeling his face go blank. "I'll be fine. It's a nice thing that you've done."

Peter passed the bottle of Firewhisky around the circle as Bowie's voice filled the room.

"Well," Sirius said as he took the bottle, still uncertain how to feel. He took a drink and decided to make the best of the situation, grinning cheekily around at his friends. "Well, you'd better have gotten me gifts."

* * *

A/N: Well, I hope everybody like it. This was an idea I've had beating about for a while so I'm glad to have gotten it down. Oh, and on a side note, I will be holidaying in Melbourne for the next week and will reply to your reviews when I return!

Have a great week. :)


	6. Modern Love

A/N: Woot, look at me updating ahead of time! I'll try to keep it up.

A thousand thank yous to my gorgeous reviewers, you all make updating worth it.

As for this chapter, it is just Remus and Sirius and some very inexplicit smut. 'Cause I can. :D This is 'Modern Love', inspired by the 1983 album _Let's Dance_. Hope you all like!

Disclaimer: Yada yada

* * *

Modern Love

It was a windy day. Overcast and dreary despite, Sirius and Remus had decided to go for a picnic, taking advantage of the unpleasant weather to get away from their friends. The whole group had gone away together for a holiday, saving sickles on accommodation. It was their last, big getaway, before they would be expected to grow up and get jobs, to live in the real world, as the Hogwarts professors liked to say.

But the two boys had gotten cabin fever, and were desperate for some alone time. None of the others would go out in the windy weather, especially when the clouds hung so low and pendulous. It was likely to rain. All the more reason to escape, the boys thought.

The two eighteen year olds were walking up a hill, Remus carrying a wicker basket, Sirius a woollen blanket and a bottle of red wine. They were enjoying being alone together, laughing and joking, shoving each other and racing between trees.

"That looks a nice spot," Sirius said after a lengthy walk, pointing up the hill. Remus nodded, and they marched up the slope, heading for a large, old tree gracing the bright grass. Sirius spread the blanket out on a lush patch of turf, after scratching away some bull ants with his fingers in a particularly canine manner, and Remus sat the basket on top of it.

The boys sat.

For a long moment they both simply gazed at the view of the countryside around and below them. The hill was not overly high, one in a series of gently sloping hillocks. Wildflowers dotted the bold, green grass around th`qaem; several tall trees broke the line of the horizon.

The sun was warm, when it emerged and hit them, but the heavy breeze was cold. Remus shifted across a little, to sit closer to Sirius, and the older boy wrapped an arm about his waist, smiling at him. They poured the wine, and sat, drinking and talking. The picnic basket was open in front of them and they munched on the treats as they chatted.

Sirius sighed all of a sudden. "Oh, it's so good to go out!"

"Mm," Remus agreed.

"Peter was annoying the hell outta me last night," Sirius continued, swigging the last of his wine, and dropping himself back onto his elbows. "What was that song he was singing?"

"Some old Scottish thing," Remus said in a tired voice. "What about him wearing all that tartan?"

Both boys began to laugh, gently at first, then becoming enveloped in fits of giggles as they remembered. When their laughter finally subsided, the pair lay down in the windswept grass. They both rolled on to their sides, facing one another, twining hands together.

"Still," Remus said, carrying on their conversation. "Peter wasn't anywhere near as bad as James and Lily this morning."

"Hey?" Sirius said, perking up a little at the prospect of gossip. He rested his chin in his palm. "What was that?"

"You didn't hear them?" Remus sound incredulous. "Oh, sweet Merlin, lucky you."

Sirius flashed him an amused grin. "Sounds like I missed out."

"Yeah, well, you could sleep through a bomb attack."

"Bomb?" Sirius queried. Remus shook his head, indicating that he was not in the mood to explain Muggle concepts. Sirius' smile relaxed a little, a slight frown appearing on his head as he untangled their hands and reached out to poke Remus in the shoulder. "Anyway, I do _not_ sleep through ... whatever. Attacks. Whatever. _You_ wake me up, every time you have a nightmare."

Remus' face suddenly transformed itself into a blank mask of regret. Sirius recognised it as a sign that he was about to switch off to the conversation and immediately apologised, stretching his hand out and lacing it again with Remus'. The younger boy gave a reluctant, rueful smile, and shrugged a shoulder. "It's okay. Just a fact of life for us, I suppose," Remus said, sounding downcast.

"Yeah. But the good far outweighs the bad," Sirius replied, smiling. "So, what exactly did you hear Jim and Evans doing?"

Remus' face blanched and then a bright red bloom flooded up his neck. "Something I hope _never_ to experience."

Sirius laughed. He kept laughing, rolling onto his stomach, one hand covering his mouth. Remus began to chuckle as well; seeing Sirius so jubilant always eliminated his bad moods.

"So they still haven't mastered silencing charms then?" Sirius asked finally, breathless, wiping away a sly tear from the corner of his eye.

"Clearly not," Remus said, aiming for a dry tone but failing, as he choked the words out in between giggles.

When their laughter finally subsided, Sirius rolled over once again, landing on his back and flipping his head to the side to look at Remus. "I miss this. Just the two of us, hanging out. Being funny."

Remus grinned, settling himself down into the blanket again. "Me too," he agreed.

Sirius suddenly went completely serious, a thing rather out of character for him. "What's going to happen after the summer is over?"

"I don't know," Remus answered simply.

"Are you nervous? About life, and stuff..."

Remus shrugged his one free shoulder again. "Not really. My life is kinda planned out for me. Shitty jobs. Be a werewolf. Nothing will change for me." Remus said this as a statement of fact, not a lament, not a complaint, just an undeniable truth.

Sirius accepted the words in the spirit they were intended and replied appropriately. "You'll find a decent job. You're bright and attractive. Good grades. As for the rest, well, yeah I guess you'll always be a werewolf, but you'll always have me too, you know."

Remus smiled sweetly. "I know. That's why I'm not worried."

"_Awwwwww_," Sirius crooned sarcastically in response to the sentiment, but a rare blush was flaming on his cheeks. Remus was laughing again, and then he leant in and kissed Sirius gently on the mouth.

Sirius returned the kiss, deepening it, his hand winding into Remus' hair, tangling in the honey coloured curls. His other arm stretched around Remus' waist, and Remus shuffled closer across the picnic rug. "Mm," Sirius murmured against his mouth as their bodies touched and came together.

Remus bit the other boy's bottom lip, hard. Sirius' mouth opened in protest and their tongues met, hot and soft, pressing gently, sliding together. Sirius moaned again. Remus grabbed his hip, fingers harsh and bruising in their grip, his kiss intensifying.

Sirius pulled back suddenly and Remus whined quietly as his lips were left cold. "Argh," Sirius said, one hand sliding down their entwined bodies to where Remus still held him tight. "You play rough, nazz."

Remus didn't look repentant at all, all wicked smiles. He nuzzled Sirius' neck, pressing hot, damp kisses along the sensitive skin. Sirius squirmed under his touch. "Poor puppy," Remus growled quietly. "Don't tell me you don't love it." Sirius felt the werewolf grinning against his skin. He tried to knee him in response, but Remus was one step ahead of him, using his superior strength to pin Sirius down and rolling on top of him.

"Think you're a bit clever, don't you?" Sirius asked, grumpily.

"Oh yes," was the answer.

Sirius pouted and lay still, unresponsive to Remus' affections. Remus paused, lifting himself up and leaning over Sirius on his elbows. "You're just no fun, are you?" he said, cheekily.

Sirius looked up at him. Remus was smiling, and his vibrant eyes were dark. "I think it's going to rain," the brunet replied.

Remus grinned wider. "Tease," he accused.

"You're one to talk," Sirius replied, poking his tongue out. Remus leant down quickly and grabbed the tip of Sirius' tongue with his teeth. Sirius made a strangled sound of alarm, which quickly faded as the nip became another passionate kiss.

This time Sirius didn't complain when Remus grabbed him, fingers biting into flesh and bone. Sirius' hand twisted into Remus' hair again; the younger boy growled as Sirius snagged and tore out a strand. The sound reverberated through Sirius' body, jolting blood into his loins. "You're lucky you're so hot," Sirius mumbled into Remus' lips.

"Mm," the boy muttered back. "You're lucky I love you."

"Oh, honey, I know it," Sirius said, gasping as Remus' moved his mouth downward, nibbling at Sirius' clean-shaven jaw line.

Remus kissed a hot trail, slowly, achingly slowly, down Sirius' neck. His fingers worked clumsily at the slippery buttons of Sirius' royal blue, satin shirt. As each button came undone, Remus worked his kiss a little lower – over sharp angles of the clavicle, down smooth skin, across taut muscle...

Sirius made an inarticulate sound of delight, arching slightly into Remus' touch, his hand tightening in the other boy's hair. His thumb worried a constant circle into the tender skin at the nape of Remus' neck; the latter felt his flesh prickle at the touch.

Remus had reached Sirius' navel, tracing the soft hair on Sirius' belly. His fingers now fumbled at the unbelievably tight fly buttons (all three of them) on Sirius' terribly fashionable jeans. Finally getting them undone, Remus stopped the kisses, just above the waistband of Sirius' boxers.

He crawled back up Sirius' body, planting a chaste kiss on Sirius' parted lips. "You okay?" he asked, voice soft, but coy.

"Mhm," the brunet nodded, then sucked in a sharp breath as Remus' hand slid underneath the waistband of his boxers, curling tight around sensitive flesh. Their lips met again, a little more feverish now, a little more intense. Remus twisted his hand in a way well practised and Sirius _squirmed_ under his expert touch.

"Are we ... doing this ... here?" Sirius babbled, almost incoherently, against Remus' mouth.

"Hell yes," Remus whispered back, curving his hand _just so_. Sirius gasped. "Take your jeans off."

Sirius arched his hips up. Remus slid down the length of his lover's body, settling between his knees, and tugging at the impossibly tight jeans until they slid past Sirius' broad, bony knees. Remus pressed a sweet, innocent kiss to one. "Lovely legs," he whispered.

What he did next was not nearly so innocent. The instant his mouth, hot and wet, touched Sirius' aroused flesh the brunet asked no more questions. His eyes rolled back and he collapsed into the softness of the grassy bed beneath him. Remus was the far better at this particular gift, and plenty practised at it besides. Sirius clutched the picnic blanket furiously in one hand, the other still wrapped tightly into Remus' hair, still rubbing a careless circle into his neck with one restless thumb.

"Gyah," Sirius groaned as Remus executed a fancy trick with his tongue. A sudden tension coiled, hot and fierce as a Sidewinder, in his gut, waiting, begging for release. After that, it was all fireworks.

Remus dabbed delicately at his mouth, smiling as he clambered back up Sirius' body, brushing their cheeks together and kissing Sirius gently on his ear. "Love you."

Sirius sighed. "Love you, too, nazz," he said, and wrapped his arms tightly around Remus' waist, drawing their bodies closer still. He pressed his cheek back against Remus' own furry one, relishing the warmth on his sensitised skin. "Except you're wearing too many clothes."

"Oh am I?" Remus said, grinning widely against the older boy's neck. "Are you promising me something?"

"You bet."

"Mmm," Remus murmured, fidgeting as Sirius' hands made their way under his Flaming Creature t-shirt, sliding, tickling, over his skin. "So... what are you gonna do to me?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Sirius said, darkly, licking the side of Remus' face. Remus laughed and rubbed their cheeks together again, drying the saliva.

"Puppy," he said affectionately.

Sirius ignored him. "Take this off," he said huskily, pushing Remus' t-shirt up towards his shoulders. Remus leaned back a bit and Sirius pulled the top off. Remus shivered as the cool wind blew across his exposed skin. The boys cuddled together for a moment, enjoying the blissful feeling of skin on bare skin.

But then Sirius was fiddling with the button and zipper on Remus' corduroy flares and pushing them down, running his hands over the tight curves of Remus' arse and hips. "Sexy nazz," he whispered, before seeking Remus' mouth again and kissing him soundly.

Sirius drew one leg up and grabbed the waistband of Remus' clothes with his toes, tugging awkwardly as Remus twisted his body and pushed with one hand in an effort to get the constraining fabric away.

Finally, Remus kicked his legs free. In a moment of characteristic, sudden self-consciousness, he reached for the picnic blanket and pulled it over their naked selves. Sirius was grinning impudently at him.

"Remus," he said, "I find your modesty very refreshing."

"Shut up, Sirius," Remus grumbled, blushing furiously, but a smile tugged at his lips.

Shortly after that, however, there was not a thing that could distract them. Lost in each other, lost in their lovemaking, there was only the touch of lips to hot skin, hands tangled in fashionably long hair, legs wrapped around waists, the steady, needful _throb_ of passion, desire, toes _curling_...

Sirius was licking Remus' ear. Remus was kissing Sirius' neck. A subtle movement, and everything intensified. Their skin was hot and salty, slick with sweat, hands clutching each other tight and close. Both gasping heavy breaths, they sought each other's mouths, kissing desperately, desperately... A movement, and another one, pounding blood and _then_

Remus felt the pressure in his belly snap like a rubber band and his mouth tore away from Sirius' own and closed instead around Sirius' clavicle, sharp teeth sinking fiercely into the slippery skin as he sucked in gasping breaths. Sirius' pleasurable groan changed abruptly into a startled yelp. The bite released and Remus pressed an apologetic kiss to Sirius' collar bone.

"Gah," Sirius said, grumpily as Remus shifted and wrapped his arms around the brunet's shoulders. "Must you bite me every time you come?"

"I don't bite you every time," Remus replied, his voice soft and content.

"I think it's bleeding!"

Remus lifted his head to see. "Yes, it is," he agreed, and kissed the broken skin again, gently, caressingly.

"You're disgusting, do you know that?"

Remus arched an eyebrow. "Do you remember what you put in _your_ mouth every time you transform?"

Sirius pouted. He tried to hold the unhappy face, but Remus was so relaxed that he couldn't hold it. "Touche," he said finally, relenting. He rubbed gently over the torn skin of his clavicle, wincing and unintentionally smearing blood over his sweat dotted skin.

Sirius sighed, turned his head and kissed Remus sweetly. A drop of water hit him on the chin. Remus returned the kiss, soft and slow, then he sighed. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Sirius replied. "Even if you are lacking in normal social charms."

Remus poked out his tongue "I have infinite power to charm".

Sirius sighed again and cuddled into Remus' side. "Well, I suppose there is no other way you could ever get me into bed."

"You are horrible. I might just leave. Get up, and wave bye-bye, and leave."

"You'll never leave me."

"No," Remus agreed. "I'm far too sleepy right now."

"Horrible, you," Sirius said, rolling to face Remus, and stroking the latter's hair. He pecked Remus on the nose, as another drop of water dripped onto his cheek.

"Well," Remus said, smiling peacefully and wrapping one arm around his lover, "at least, I think, we're quieter than James and Lily."

Sirius laughed. "They must like being overheard," he said. "They could at least_ learn_ a silencing charm."

Remus shuddered beside him. "That's a terrifying thought," he said.

"Well..." Sirius began to speak, but stopped suddenly as the dreary grey clouds blowing above suddenly began to spit fat rain droplets on them. "Shit!"

"Oh, relax," Remus said calmly. "Your hair will look lovely all rain-soaked. A little water never hurt anyone."

Sirius scowled at him, and moved as if to find his clothes. Remus sighed and dragged the folded edge of the rug up over both their heads. "Is that better?" he asked. "I'm not ready to move yet. I'm enjoying being alone."

Sirius mock-pouted at him, but gave him a gentle, thankful smile afterwards. There was something wonderfully cosy and intimate about being hidden under the woollen blanket together during a rainstorm. The boys huddled a bit closer.

"Well," Sirius began again after a moment, "We are in an era where we can express our sexual wants, you know. It's very far out how relaxed sex is these days. Maybe James and Evans just want to express themselves."

Remus rolled his eyes a little at Sirius' badly articulated speech. He replied, "Well it's _my_ sexual desire _not_ to have to hear them."

Sirius was grinning his most mischievous grin. "Perhaps tonight we should forget the silencing charm ourselves, then. Give them a taste of their own medicine."

Remus arched an eyebrow at him through the gloomy light beneath the rug. The tiny space was starting to become humidly warm. "I think not."

Sirius' grin stretched to Cheshire cat proportions. "You're no fun."

Remus didn't rise to the jibe. He merely shrugged his shoulders, the bony joints digging into Sirius where he lay against the younger boy.

The rain pattered steadily against the blanket. It was starting to seep through.

"What should we do this afternoon?" Sirius asked, changing the subject.

"I don't know," Remus said brightly. "I'm quite enjoying lying in the rain."

"But I'm getting cold," Sirius whinged.

"Well, you can go back and spend the rest of the day with the breeders," Remus said, turning to look Sirius in the eye. "Or we can stay here and think of some ways to warm up."

"Mm," Sirius said, pressing a kiss to the werewolf's lips. "Good thing I've got nowhere to be."

Remus wrapped his arms a little tighter about his boyfriend, returning the kiss as the blanket started to collapse, sodden, over them. "Well, you should get there right on time then."

* * *

So, I'm not overy happy with the ending myself. I hope it felt okay to you all, let me know. And we're now officially a thrid of the way through this fic! Got great things planned for future chapters, hah, just to tease you. Thanks guys. :)


	7. China Girl

A/N: So very sorry this is a little late. I got distracted first by re-reading Shoebox Project, and then by the requirements of my uni course. And , you know, work and stuff. I'm happy enough with this chapter, and hope you all like it too. :)

The song this month comes from Bowie's 1983 album _Let's Dance_.

Disclaimer: Same as ever. Except, credit for China Girl is shared with Iggy Pop ('77 album _The Idiot_).

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China Girl

**5****th**** Year.**

There she was. James hoped his mouth wasn't hanging open.

It was. Sirius walked past and smacked it closed for him. "What's that Jimmy? You wanting flies for breakfast?"

James blinked slowly, pulling his slammed jaw into a pout. He thumbed his glasses up, dragging his eyes unhappily towards his friends, who had just joined him at the breakfast table.

"You look like a wreck, Jim-bo," Remus said cheerfully, leaning across the table and clapping him on the shoulder. James eyed the boy, irritated by his chirpy mood. There was no denying Remus looked very good this morning, and deep within his kindest heart James was glad for it. Remus had a hell of a time at the best of it.

"I feel like a wreck," he answered, melodramatically. "I'm a wreck without my girl."

"What girl? You haven't got a girl," Sirius said, leaning across him to get to the tomato juice.

"That's the point," James growled, grabbing the bottle of juice before Sirius could reach it and thrusting it violently at him. It spilt, and the spots vanished against the red table cloth. James ignored the look that flickered between his two friends. It was easy for them, he thought, they already had each other, even if they were too stupid to realise it. "Did you call me Jim-bo?" he asked suddenly, grouchily.

Remus smiled indulgently and helped himself to hot chocolate and pancakes.

Sirius was gulping down tomato juice. He drained his glass, paused to refill it and drank again, stacking sausages and eggs onto James' plate with his free hand.

"Eat up, _James_," Remus said, running his tongue absently over his bottom lip. James squinted at him, and noticed Sirius doing the same. He frowned, spearing a sausage with a fork and biting into it bitterly.

"What's wrong with you this morning?" Sirius asked, pouring a third glass of juice. "You're not usually this grumpy."

James shrugged, then felt somewhat contrite. "You know me," he muttered, humbled, "not a morning person."

Sirius reached over and ruffled the boy's hair. "That's the spirit."

"Stop thinking about it, James," Remus said, smearing jam across his pancakes.

James tried.

Sometimes a happy distraction would work, and most of the time James was able to function normally. And generally speaking, James was a happy person. But he was prone to bouts of despondency and had an infamously short temper, which his friends all too frequently bore the brunt of, and cheerfully ignored.

But the moodiness was all caused by one thing. Or rather, one person: Lily Evans.

She drove James crazy, sometimes quite literally. There were days he felt he was going out of his mind. He was hopelessly, desperately in love with her. The worst part of it all was, he had absolutely no idea why.

It had started at Christmas time in first year. Lily had had a new red dress for a present, and she had worn it on Christmas day. In a most childish way, James had found it attractive – her heavy, shoulder length red hair, the knee-length, high bodiced dress and the necklace with beads that resembled snowballs and red Christmas baubles, a gingerbread house pendant at the centre. She looked entirely wholesome, totally naive to the ways of the magical world, the 'girl next door' that James had not grown up with.

He had been too young that first year to truly appreciate the emotions and the sensations, the other feelings that accompanied them. He didn't mind then, when all he had wanted was to be near her, to be close to her. It made him do stupid things, things designed to show himself off. James only wanted Lily Evans to notice him.

She did, but not in the way he had hoped. She began to think of him as a pureblood snob, constantly showing off his inbred ability to use and understand magic. James didn't realise how much he had been shooting himself in the foot until several years later. By then, he wondered if the damage hadn't already been done.

His friends had believed, in the beginning, that his infatuation with Lily Evans would pass as they all grew older, as hormones altered their desires and persuaded them to seek out lovers. James watched Peter find a girl and catch her, very early on. It had always rankled him – there was he, James Potter, attractive, intelligent, well-off, and Peter, the youngest and most unassuming of the group, was the first to get a girlfriend.

James was not short of prospects, of course, but he simply was not interested. Still, watching Peter's happiness had driven a splinter of jealousy and loneliness into his heart. He was happy for his friend, but the success of Peter's relationship only reinforced the pointlessness of his own attraction.

James watched Remus and Sirius find their way through school with no seeming interest in romance or relationships, though he noticed with every passing year how their own bond grew deeper, and they became more and more attached to each other. Around the same time as Peter and Claudia had gotten together, James had noticed similar attitudes of courtship between the two boys, though no one else ever seemed to see it, least of all Sirius and Remus themselves. James once attempted to broach the subject with Peter, but he was as oblivious as everyone else.

In many ways this frustrated James even more – to know that two people were in love and too dense to realise it just made him want to beat his head against the wall. It was all too irritating for words, when there was he, bathing in the sorrow of unrequited love.

But as his friends had gone about their own romantic ways – or skirted them, as the case may be, James' feelings for Lily had not, as they'd expected, passed. With each month, they grew stronger. Her lean figure and sharp features still drew him, so different from those of other girls in their year. Her burnished hair grew longer every year, until she could wear it in two long plaits. They hung down her narrow back and bounced (provocatively, it seemed to James) with the sway of her walk. Her green eyes began to glow with knowledge and understanding as they grew older.

James had wanted to tear his own eyes out the first time he saw her walking with Edward Thomas. The dark boy was Ravenclaw's pride, two years older than the Marauders. She had started dating him early that very year, fifth year, and James had passed them one night in a quiet corridor.

He had been out, being secretly mischievous, Remus with him. They had scurried into a shadowed corner when they heard the footsteps, fearful of Filch, or a teacher, or a stray foot that would dislodge the Cloak. They were only one hallway from the Gryffindor tower entrance.

It had been Lily and Edward, walking together, laughing quietly in the silent hallway. Her head was tipped towards his shoulder, and they were holding hands.

James had nearly thrown the Cloak off, not sure exactly what he intended to do. Remus was hissing words at him, but he hadn't heard them through the blood pounding in his ears. It was Remus' hand closing on his shoulder that had stilled him. The strength in those finger tips was immense; James could feel the promise of bruises and crushed bone if he moved at all.

James had wanted to follow them, to _see_, but Remus hadn't allowed it. That had frustrated James, but he knew his friend was paying him a kindness. It hadn't mattered, for when Edward Thomas walked back to Ravenclaw tower alone, far too long later, James could smell Lily's perfume on him, and could see her kiss in the smile on his lips.

"It won't last," Remus had promised him, sympathetically.

It hadn't, but it had made James realise what exactly he was missing out on. His heart had hurt, just a little more.

**6****th**** Year. Semester 1.**

Their sixth year had dawned beautiful, the lovely summer ending, and the promise of another year, of friends and fun, loomed before the Marauders, all.

James had been particularly cheery. That summer he had had a letter from Lily Evans.

It wasn't much of a letter, mostly it was complaining about the fact that he had taken her Divination textbook home with him for the holidays, by mistake. James didn't take Divination, but had told Lily he had had a sudden spark of interest in the topic and could he please borrow the book to see if he would like to sign up the next year.

Of course, he had deliberately not given the book back. He kept it, like a talisman. The fact that she had even lent it to him in the first place was a good sign. It was a Divination book full of pure omens.

And it had worked. The letter had asked him to return the book, had not insulted him in the least, and wished him a happy holiday. Lily had signed it with a promise to see him when the new term started.

James had shown the note, naturally, to his friends, who had tried to hide their eye rolls from him, mostly unsuccessfully, but James did not care. Here was written proof that Lily Evans no longer found him contemptible, no longer considered him lowlier than dust.

But he had found that, once they were back at school, it made little difference. Lily still would not talk to him, in fact, seemed to stay away from him entirely. Yet if he ever managed to catch her eye, a small, demure smile would slide across her lips before she hastily looked away. Each time he saw that smile, the flutter of her eyelids as she turned away, he could feel something inside him quicken.

"Why don't you _speak_ to her?" Peter and Claudia hassled him constantly.

"She thinks I'm an idiot," James would mutter as a response.

"Not anymore," Claudia would reply, fiddling with her hair or nails or some strange, incomprehensible beauty aid that made James very glad he was of the male persuasion.

"So she used to think I was an idiot?" James questioned, moodily.

"Sure," Claudia replied flippantly. "Just about all the girls did. But it was actually that which made them all like you."

"Except Lily," James said.

"Ah, she's always liked you well enough. She just likes to go against the grain."

"She puts me down in public!"

"Well," Claudia said, very reasonably, eyebrow arched. "Someone kinda has to, don't they."

Peter elbowed Claudia gently in the side. James stalked off and didn't speak to her until the next day. He never brought up the subject of Lily with Claudia again, though that didn't stop _her_ from trying.

And then the worst happened.

Sirius and Remus finally became an official couple.

Which was wonderful and James was happy for them, but he was also bitterly jealous. All of a sudden he was the only single person in their group, and it hadn't helped that the others, completely unintentionally, had been throwing the fact in his face.

"I'm going to be alone forever," he moaned on the school train as they all headed home for Christmas.

"Well, after that display last night, whattya expect?" Peter said mildly.

They were all settled in one of the nicer compartments on the train. Remus and Sirius were sitting side by side, Remus with his back to the compartment wall and one leg tossed over Sirius' lap. The older boy had one arm wound around the werewolf's shoulders, keeping their heads close together. He was whispering Merlin only knew what with a lascivious grin. James was terribly glad he couldn't hear the words.

That day, he felt further away from his own happy ending than ever before.

Little did he know the fates – and more importantly his friends – were conspiring behind his back to create his happy ending for him.

It all came to a head several days later, when the group got together for David Bowie's New Year concert.

Lily looked so _hot_ that night. Somehow, in the crush of bodies they had ended up only a hair's breadth apart. Remus and Sirius had been putting on some sort of a live porn show, and kept bumping into him as they gyrated about the concert hall, the bleeding show-offs. It had been all James could do not to touch her, Lily, to feel the exposed skin of her waist as she danced right near him.

And then Sirius had tripped over his own ridiculous dance moves and had sent Remus flying into him. James had crashed into Lily. Peter and Claudia had caught her, and as James righted himself he found Lily in his arms, looking at him with flushed cheeks, bright eyes staring up at him through rumpled red hair. Her lips were parted. James licked his own. He was suddenly saying words, not quite sure what they were. His hand was on her arm.

Claudia was talking to them. James turned startled eyes to meet hers. She was smiling, and pushing Lily closer to him. The word 'dance' registered in his brain before Claudia turned to help Sirius.

Lily was blushing furiously, her face blooming a colour almost as vibrant as her hair. She took one step closer, and ran her hand up over her own arm to meet James'. He looked down to where their hands met. His fingers were shaking.

The flush still high in her face, Lily turned her eyes back to his, finally meeting them fully. James slid his free hand around her waist and drew in a trembling breath as the warmth of Lily's thin body pressed against him. They began to dance.

James could smell her hair, her floral perfume, the gluey smell of the glitter on her skin. He drew a deep breath sharply through his nostrils and let it out on a sigh. "Is this ... do you ... mind? Dancing with me?"

"As long as your feet aren't enchanted..." Lily said slyly, very quietly. James felt another flush burn in his ears. "It's fine," Lily said after a moment. "It's ... it's lovely." She gave a little laugh. "My heart's beating like thunder!"

James smiled. "Mine too," he admitted. He gave Lily a little squeeze. She returned it, curling her fist into his satin shirt.

There was a moment of quiet and then James said, in a rush of silly, "I thought you didn't like me."

Lily smiled at him, mischief in the curve of her lips. "Oh, I've always liked you. But you're a pain in the arse, aren't you? With a killer ego. I didn't want to add to that. And ... to be honest ... I didn't know you really liked me." Lily flushed slightly and wouldn't meet his eyes.

"What? Really?" James was flabbergasted. He didn't think he could have been any more obvious. He'd been trying!

"Yeah... well, Claudia would tell me all the time, but all I ever saw was you either showing off or moping. You never really did anything ... specific. You know."

"I couldn't," James replied. "You were always telling me off. If I'd been direct and you'd turned me down ... well."

Lily suddenly started to laugh. "We're sad and pathetic people, aren't we?"

James smiled, tipping his head and meeting her eyes. He said softly, "As long as we can be sad and pathetic together?"

Lily returned his smile, laughter still shadowing her features. "We can give it a go."

James felt his heart swell with emotion. He pulled Lily closer.

**6****th**** Year. Semester 2.**

"Hey, guys!" James came bounding into the Gryffindor common room and threw himself down beside Remus on the couch. "Take a look at my girlfriend!"

The other three boys all groaned and rolled their eyes. James didn't care. Lily and Claudia had just gotten back from some mysterious girls club, and James twisted on the couch to watch as they crossed the room. Claudia sat herself down on the rug before the fire, and, with difficulty, pulled an emery board from the hip pocket of her tight red jeans. Lily sat down beside James.

"Hello, my dear," he said, smiling, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She kissed him on the cheek in return.

Remus snorted beside him. James saw the werewolf and his brunet partner exchange a look that he couldn't read.

"Darling," Sirius said suddenly, simperingly. "Could you pretty please pass me the 'paper?" Remus did. "Oh thank you, _sweet pea_. You're such a _dear_."

Lily looked mildly confused. James frowned ferociously. "You two were just as bad in the first weeks of your relationship!" he said furiously. He stood abruptly, stepped on Remus' toes and then held out a hand to Lily. She took his hand and followed suit, James leading her presently to the stairs leading up to his dormitory, stamping on Sirius' toes as well as he passed. A call of '_woooooooo_' echoed up the stairs behind them. The voices were unmistakably Marauder.

"Ignore those trolls," James said after, as the two of them entered the dorm. He shut the door firmly behind them and indicated for Lily to sit on his bed. She raised her eyebrows at him, but sat.

"They can't be all bad," Lily said lightly. "Not if Claud hangs about with you after so long."

"Yeah, right," James said dryly, hitching one brow as he sat on the floor by Lily's feet. "And so what does that say about me?"

"Well, I don't know," Lily said, drawing one knee up and wrapping her arms around it. She peered down at James with a smile on her lips. "What do you think?"

"I think you can't make me analyse my friends."

"Too bad," Lily replied flippantly. "Worth a shot, though."

James took Lily's foot, the one dangling over the side of the bed, and began to rub the arch between his thumbs. "You do like them, don't you? It is actually important, you know."

"Yes, I like them, and yes I know. They take a bit of getting used to, but yes, I like them. I don't think it's quite possible _not_ to like them. You lot like your secrets though, don't you?"

"Our Secret Marauder's Business? Well, probably better that you don't know most of that."

"Probably," Lily agreed. James suspected she did want to say something more on the subject, but she did not. "That's nice," she said instead, as James rolled her foot between his hands.

"You're welcome."

"Strange to see you actually have manners," Lily teased.

"Not so strange, once you get to know me. I'm actually incredibly intelligent, very dependable and a helluva guy to have around in troubled times."

"So ... you're a dog?"

"Oh, no. No no. Sirius is the dog in our group."

"Uh..."

"Secret Marauder's Business," James said distractedly, not looking up from his task.

"... Okay. So, what, you're all animals then?"

"Can't answer that. Secret-"

"Marauder's Business, yeah okay," Lily finished for him. She eyed him narrowly. James pretended not to notice, but he was smiling, enjoying the being mysterious. "So does that mean I can never know?"

"Well," James replied slowly, "no. Once you've been inside the group for a few years you'll probably get to know all the stuff. Claudia doesn't even know everything. We're like a little family, the four of us. We're closer than brothers. There are just things we don't tell people. Plus, a lot of the stuff we keep secret is actually really dangerous, so you really are better off not knowing."

"Mm. Yes. I suppose so," Lily replied, dryly. "You'd best not throw your secrets in my face then."

"Oh no. We keep our Secrets very secret." James made sure to emphasise the capital letter and gestured for Lily to swap her feet over. She did, and he began massaging the other.

There was a little silence. Then Lily said, "It's kinda nice you boys are so close. I half wonder if I should be jealous."

"Us _men_ are very close, in a very _manly_ way. You shouldn't be jealous. I love you."

"You do?" Lily asked quietly.

James looked up, and thumbed his glasses up his nose so he could look Lily in the eye. "Yes, of course. Should I not have said so yet?"

"Oh," Lily said, slightly breathless. "Oh no, that's ... very ... good. I think I love you too."

"Think?" James asked, startled, "What's wrong with me? Is it my eyes? I know, hazel is quite dull. I found a potion the other day that will make them bright blue. Would that be better? Or is it-"

"Shut up," Lily said softly, and slid off the bed. She landed awkwardly on James' lap and he gritted his teeth as she shifted to make herself comfortable. She smiled at him. "You're very cute when you get excited."

_You ain't seen nothing yet_, James thought. He looked into her eyes. She was so very close, he could see the pale freckles gracing her porcelain skin. She was so fine, delicate, like a china doll. Yes, he truly loved her. For as long as he could remember knowing her, for as long as he knew the emotion, he had loved her. He felt_ blessed_ that she felt the same. He felt ready to take on the world. Which was a good thing, he thought. Ruling the world sounded kinda nice, and, in that moment, possible.

Lily kissed him. His brain sputtered into silence. The moment was beautiful. James had his girl.

* * *

And there it is! Will aim to have the next chapter up on time. Thanks guys, love ya!


	8. Under Pressure

A/N: Yay! I've actually got this chapter up a few days early! So that's nice.

I'm very happy with this chapter, so I hope you like it too. Big thanks to **Ravenna Reckless** for being such a loyal reviewrer - it makes me so glad to know you are enjoying the story. And special thanks to **rqqi** who reviewed as a guest. It makes me so happy to get such lovely reviews, and you are very welcome. I'm glad to hear there's another Glam rocker out there!

This month's chapter is inspired, quite ambiguously, by the 1981 song, "Under Pressure". Look for it on _Best of Bowie_ and _The Platinum Collection_.

Disclaimer: Now, I have to be honest, "Under Pressure" really is a Queen song, originally on their '84 album, _Hot Space_. But it is also very Bowie, and, hey, this story is called 'The Platinum Collection' for a reason! Enjoy!

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Under Pressure

Halfway up the stairs to the dormitory Sirius heard the unmistakeable sound of an electric guitar. It was ripping a glorious sound through the morning stillness. The music was very familiar, but Sirius could not imagine where it was coming from.

For a long moment, he simply stood on the stairs, content with knowing that he would not be interrupted as he was skipping classes that everyone else, James and Peter included, were attending. Remus was sleeping off a recent transformation.

It was Iggy Pop, the song strumming out of the mystery guitar. It was one of Sirius' favourite songs. He remembered a wonderful night, four months ago, _too_ long ago, when he had sung this song to a large group of Hogwarts students.

The guitar stopped abruptly, and then just as suddenly began again, screeching in the wild, distorted intro of 'I Wanna Be Your Dog'. Sirius began walking up the stairs. By the time he reached the door he thought the musician was behind – his _own_ dormitory – the guitar had settled into the melody. Sirius found his shoulders bobbing along with the music despite himself.

He carefully pushed the door open – yes, the musician was definitely in this room; the music suddenly got considerably louder. Sirius stepped inside, and looked around. The hangings were drawn about Remus' bed – surely he couldn't be sleeping through the music?

Of course he wasn't. Sirius saw in a moment as he walked across the room – there was Remus, in the space between his own bed and Sirius', an electric guitar draped across his hips, strumming away powerfully at the strings.

Remus abruptly stopped playing, going completely still, his chin jerking up ever so slightly, in a way that Sirius understood all too well – it was a canine posture, the pose of an animal that has just scented something.

Almost immediately the werewolf relaxed again. He looked up, a weary smile crossing his bruised face. The bruises healed fast, already turning green and yellow. There were several nasty lacerations marring Remus' pale skin. Blood was showing on some of the bandages and through Remus' pyjamas.

"Couldn't sleep," the younger boy muttered as a hello.

"Course not, your guitar was too loud," Sirius answered reasonably. Remus shrugged. "You don't have to stop on my account, it was rather good."

Remus gave him a thin smile. Sirius felt a strange ache in his chest, concern creasing his face into a frown. "I'm fine, Sirius," Remus said hurriedly. He sat down on the side of his bed, pushing the hangings out of his way. The bedspread was littered with chocolate wrappers. Remus rapped his scraped knuckles against the body of the guitar. "What're you doing here, anyway? Shouldn't you be in Transfiguration?"

"Eh, I don't need to be taught that rubbish. Besides, I figure with OWLs all being over and school finishing next week, why bother?"

"Uh huh," Remus said. It could have meant anything, Sirius couldn't tell.

"I didn't know you were a fan of that sort of music." Sirius sat down beside Remus on the bed, keeping some distance between them. He absently brushed some of the wrappers around.

"Yeah. I like other stuff, too, though."

"What else can you play? I had no idea you were so good."

"Didn't you notice back when we were a band earlier this year?"

"James kinda stole the show with his charmed bass."

"I suppose," Remus yawned. "What do you wanna hear?" He stood up again and adjusted his guitar. Sirius felt his eyes follow it as it settled once more against Remus' bony pelvis. In a moment of sudden nervousness, he licked his lips. He stood and moved across to his own bed, so that Remus wouldn't notice his awkward moment.

"Uh... Saviour Machine?"

Remus began to play. Then he began to sing. Sirius was momentarily struck dumb. He realised in that moment that he had never before heard Remus sing, and the realisation only came because he now was painfully aware of just how _good_ Remus was. His voice was untrained, of course, but rich and melodious. It was a natural ability, the kind of thing that just couldn't be taught. The kind of thing Sirius had spent his entire life trying to achieve, and though he was loathe to admit it, never achieved.

Sirius wasn't sure when he'd sat down. He was pretty certain his mouth was hanging open. It didn't really matter, though, because Remus wasn't looking at him. The boy had his brown head bent, eyes unfocussed, fingers moving effortlessly...

Something hot and heavy curled achingly in the bottom of Sirius' belly. He sniffed a shallow breath through his nose, scratched his eyebrow and pushed his hair back with both hands. Remus kept on playing, singing.

Remus licked his lips between verses. Sirius felt his eyes swivel and fix on them. They were slightly swollen, split and dry. When they formed words or parted to hold a note, shivers ran down Sirius' spine. It was ridiculous, but he couldn't help it. Something about Remus turned him molten.

He wasn't sure when it had started, he only knew it had been going on a long time. Touching was either electric or deeply comforting, both were nice and so Sirius endeavoured to touch Remus as often as possible. Remus didn't ever object, but Sirius wondered exactly what the boy must be thinking sometimes.

Remus began the next verse, flicking his head to toss his hair back. It fluttered around his neck and for a moment the broken and bruised skin on Remus' face stood out starkly. It twisted Sirius' heart. He was never the kind of person to dwell on problems that couldn't be fixed, but the sheer unfairness of Remus' situation embittered him every time he considered it.

The song was ending, Remus strumming out the coda with well practiced fingers.

"That's pretty impressive," Sirius said quietly once the notes had dissipated. "You weren't even using music."

Remus sat down heavily on the side of his bed. He slid the guitar off to the side and didn't reply.

"I didn't realise you knew music by heart."

Remus nodded. "Some. Not a lot, really."

"Can you play something happy sounding, now?"

"Any requests?"

"Surprise me."

"Okay..." Remus said slowly, arranging himself again to play. He pushed his hair behind one ear, the yellowing bruises flashing again, "I dunno how _happy_ this is, but it'll definitely cheer you up." And he began to pluck out the very distinctive notes to T. Rex's _Get It On_.

It did indeed cheer Sirius up. He tapped his foot along to the music and when Remus began to sing he was tempted to join in; he didn't, but only because the clear sound of Remus' voice sent thrills of icy wonderment down his spine. Before he knew it, he was moving his head in time with the guitar, and twisting in a strange dance where he sat.

When the song ended, Sirius looked up and met Remus' eyes. A burning spark jerked through him, jolting electricity into his veins. It settled somewhere hot and uncomfortable in his lower abdomen.

It was the way Remus was looking at him that did it. Those slightly puffy eyes were half closed, fixed on Sirius when he had looked up; an intense glare had been narrowed on him, but Sirius was unable to properly read it. In a moment, Remus blinked and turned. His curls fell between them and Remus turned away, once again lowering his guitar. The werewolf made to sit on his bed, didn't quite make it, and slid heavily to the floor with an exhausted sigh.

Sirius had been about to question his friend about that unsettling gaze; now, the questions slid from his mind as he dropped to the floor himself and shuffled across to Remus. "Are you okay?"

"Mm." Remus said. His eyes were closed. "Yeah. Just tired."

Sirius felt a strange and unusual kind of teenage awkwardness. It wasn't something he was used to – he was so often the outspoken one, the wild one. People thought he was afraid of nothing. There was something suffocating in the air around him now. He wasn't sure if it was fear. It _was_ uncomfortable.

Remus was slouching terribly, a weariness evident in his body. The guitar was on the floor beside him, upside down. Remus had his head tilted slightly away. Sirius wanted to reach out and lay a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder, but the tension between them was so pressured, his will buckled under the weight of it.

Suddenly Remus let out a whoosh of a sigh, and then slipped a little to the side, laying his head on Sirius' shoulder. Sirius jumped a little, surprised but pleased, and the tension ebbed away as quickly as it had taken hold. He was terribly glad to be some help, _any_ help, to Remus.

Remus yawned a huge yawn and his jaw cracked alarmingly. "Sorry," the younger boy muttered quietly, settling his head more comfortably. "Shouldn't be ... not really appropriate..."

"What? ... No, Rem, it's fine," Sirius said, slightly confused, and he gingerly put one arm around Remus' thin and bony back. The boy tensed slightly, then relaxed against him. A flurry of emotions rushed through Sirius, none of them really very familiar.

Remus yawned again. "Tell me a story," he said softly. "I can't sleep but you make me feel safe. Tell me a story so I can sleep." Another little jolt of energy pumped through Sirius' bloodstream.

"What kind of story? I don't know any good ones."

"Tell me about The Four Treasures. Tell me about how many points Jimmy scored this week at Quidditch practice. Tell me about your latest girlfriend. Anything, don't care."

Sirius was quiet for a moment, solemn and very aware of the warmth of Remus' cheek against his chest. Some of the werewolf's curls had slipped inside Sirius' collar and were tickling his neck.

"Remus," he said eventually, "You know I've been dating Kiernan O'Daigh, right?"

"Yes," Remus said faintly, burrowing his head against Sirius. One of his hands curled its long fingers around the buttons of Sirius' school shirt. "But he looks rather girl-ish."

Sirius smiled distractedly. "No more than the rest of us. And you're one to talk, look how long your hair is now."

Remus made a strange noise. Sirius wondered if he'd been attempting a snort of derision. "Look in the mirror lately, mate?"

"Just before I came in," Sirius replied loftily, and felt rather than heard the tiny laugh that Remus graced him with. He smiled. "Kiernan is very nice," Sirius said. _But he's not you. And he's not James, or Pete, and it's not the same._ "We've been out a few times. He told me I kiss like a dog, all tongue and greedy."

Remus laughed more; the effort of it rattled through both of their bodies. "I can only imagine," he said, faintly, but Sirius could hear the smile in his voice.

"C'mon," Sirius said suddenly. "I wore you out. Let me help you into bed if you're going to sleep."

"So you can lie at my feet and growl at strangers?"

"Don't be coy, it doesn't suit you."

"Yes it does," Remus rebutted and lifted his head.

For a moment the boys looked at each other, Sirius' arm circling Remus' thin waist, Remus' hand coiled in a death grip to Sirius' shirt. Remus' eyes were red – bloodshot and golden yellow. His face, where it wasn't marred by bruising, was terribly wan. Sirius only wondered how he must look in Remus' eyes – a boy, maybe, who was never touched by horror or unhappiness. It wouldn't be true, but he would never tell Remus that. There was no way he could compare his struggles to Remus'.

Remus' grip tightened a fraction. Their faces were close together; Sirius could feel the damp warmth of Remus' breath on his cheek. Their eyes locked. Sirius drew a ragged breath and felt his lips part. Remus turned his head slightly, shifting a little closer...

For a devastating moment Sirius thought they might kiss. In the next moment, Remus sighed deeply and drew back, his grip on Sirius relaxing, though not relinquishing. Sirius mentally shook himself. He was ridiculous – they could not possibly kiss. For one, he was already dating someone. For two, he had no idea about Remus' sexual orientation, let alone _feelings_, and for three, they were friends. The closest of friends. Sirius knew that nothing could jeopardise that, nothing could be _allowed_ to.

No matter how much he might wish it was otherwise.

"Okay," Remus said, and Sirius dragged his wandering mind back to the present. "Bed sounds good. But I still want that damn story."

Sirius forced a smile onto his lips. "You got it," he said and helped Remus to stand. It took a little effort, but Sirius managed to get his schoolmate safely onto the middle of his school bed. Remus sprawled out, his eyes open but unfocussed, gazing toward the velvet canopy. The boy slapped a hand against the covers, indicating clearly for Sirius to stay with him. The brunet did, kicking off his platform shoes and sliding onto the bed beside Remus. He sat, legs crossed, leaning against the headboard. Remus' pillows were beautifully soft and smelled, somehow, comfortable.

"So tell me about Kiernan, then. You promised me a story. Make it a good one."

Sirius glanced sideways at his friend. Remus hadn't moved. "You want me to tell you about my ... uh, relationship? Like what, our first date or something?"

Remus gritted his teeth, Sirius could see it in the boy's jaw. "Make it up for all I care, Sirius. You promised."

Sirius grinned. "Okay, I'll make it up. Once upon a midnight's dreary, there lived a school for gifted boys. Now, one boy at this school was particularly gifted. He had long black hair and incredible good looks-"

"Which no one could see, because it was always midnight and dreary?" Remus interjected, a sly smile clear in his voice.

Sirius would have poked him in the side, if not for the fact that Remus was probably bandaged there. "It wasn't _always_ midnight. Just this one night. Anyway," Sirius broke off as Remus began to laugh at him. "_Anyway_," Sirius said forcefully, and now he did poke Remus, very gently, in the shoulder. "So, this boy was incredibly gifted and good looking. And naturally, all the other students wanted to be like him, or near him, or with him."

"Sirius, just because you're gay doesn't mean everyone else is."

"Shush! I never said I was _gay_. Why, I could be of _any_ persuasion. You, most heinous, fiendish friend, ought to know better than to sully my respectable name with such foul-"

"Back to the story, my incredibly offended and delicious prince, please," Remus said cheekily.

"Ah, yes, so, uh... well, everybody loved this young boy, who _was_, actually, named Prince Delicious. Now, Prince Delicious got to an age where he no longer wanted to be alone. So, he cast about the school looking for someone appropriate to date. Prince Delicious had good friends, but he didn't want to date them, especially because of their names, which were something like 'Squashy Pumpkin-goo', and 'French Snotter'. Not very attractive at all."

"What was my name, in this story?" Remus asked. Sirius thought he detected a tiny note of offense in the tone.

"You, my dearest Moony, are not in the story, because the story is _for_ you and therefore not _about_ you. So, now, Prince Delicious decided he needed to look outside his circle of friends for someone to date. It wasn't long before someone snagged his eye: a blade, who went by the name 'Sunny O'Sky'. Prince Delicious thought that Sunny was a very fine name, and the boy to whom it belonged was also quite appealing, what with his dark red, curling hair and piercing blue eyes. So Prince Delicious set up a chance encounter, which basically went that Prince tripped Sunny over on the main staircase one day, pretended that Snivellus had done it, and then helped Sunny to pick up all his dropped things.

"Sunny was enchanted by this show of kindness, and because everybody wanted to be with Prince Delicious, Prince knew he could safely ask Sunny out to Hogsmeade for a meal. So Prince Delicious and Sunny O'Day went out to the Hogs Head for a drink and some terrible food. Aberforth stared at them all night, from his dirty bar, and Prince Delicious wondered if the creepy old man were trying to memorise his beautiful features as inspiration for later that night."

"Sirius..."

Sirius chuckled at the pained note in Remus' tired voice. He glanced at his friend. Remus had finally closed his eyes.

"_Well_, that's what Prince wondered. So the two boys sat across a table from each other, gazing lustfully into each other's eyes, spellbound by their mutual gorgeousness and skilfulness, and they stayed at the pub until last call. Then, they walked home in the glorious half-moonlight, but suddenly," Sirius made his voice go ominous. He wasn't even certain that Remus was awake anymore. He uncrossed his legs and stretched them out in front of him. "Suddenly, the bright half-moon went behind a cloud, lightning tore across the sky and thunder rumbled frighteningly close, and rain fell on the pair in saturating enormity.

"Prince Delicious and Sunny hurried about, looking for a place to shelter, but there was none. Finally, they came across an old, hollow tree. Well, Prince Delicious thought, that won't do us much good, but in the crevices of the old tree's roots was a small void, and here the boys huddled and were mostly protected from the storm."

Remus sighed quietly, and rolled over. His head came to rest on the slope of Sirius's belly, his legs curled against Sirius' own. The closeness brought a sudden heat into the area. Sirius sucked in a steadying breath, and then smiled, for it just felt so wonderful to have Remus next to him, and more than that, it felt so wonderful that Remus trusted him enough to keep him so close when he was so vulnerable. "Keep going," Remus whispered, proving he was very much awake. Sirius vowed not to think into it.

Sirius cleared his throat. "So, the boys cowered together in the base of the tree, deep in the middle of a midnight dreary. But it wasn't all bad, because they had to sit very close, and the warmth of each other they both found comforting.

"Then another peal of lightning, uh ... lit the sky, and suddenly there was a big, um, Thestral. And it was hungry, and even though the boys weren't dead, it looked at them with its queer eyes and bared its fangs. Sunny screamed, and the Thestral grabbed his cloak in its teeth and tore the pair apart.

"Well, thought Prince Delicious, if I don't save Sunny O'Sky, who will? So Prince ran out into the deluge, and after the Thestral, and Sunny.

"It was a long and arduous chase, and by the time Prince was able to reach the place where the Thestral planned to eat Sunny, he was covered in mud, with bits of leaf and stick in his hair, and his best shirt torn. All of which, of course, added to his superb deliciousness."

"Of course," Remus echoed.

"So Prince Delicious finally caught up, and he snuck up behind the Thestral, and plucked a hair from his own head, and carefully tied it around the Thestral's tail, which everybody knows is the only way to control a Thestral."

"Why didn't he use magic?"

"No heckling, thank you," Sirius said sweetly. His eyes were on Remus' drowsy form, the spread of golden-brown hair splayed across his own chest. "Everybody knows that is the only way to control a Thestral."

"Of course," Remus repeated.

"So the Thestral stood to attention and was Prince Delicious' to command. He ordered the Thestral to release Sunny, and then to go about its usual business, but to leave the two of them alone. The Thestral did, and to this day it has a strand of Prince Delicious' hair tied around its tail, and is answerable only to his will.

"Of course, Sunny was ever so happy to have been saved, especially by someone as debonair as Prince Delicious. From where he lay in the rain soaked ground, Sunny reached up and seized Prince by his collar, dragged him down into the mud, and kissed him senseless."

"Goodness," Remus muttered and Sirius caught the sarcasm. He smiled, and resisted the urge to touch Remus' hair.

"Then the two boys walked together back to the castle, no longer minding the rain, and they crept back into the school and what they did after that is for another tale."

"Mm," Remus murmured, shifting and settling even closer against Sirius. "You tell a good story. So will you tell me what Prince and Sunny did in the next instalment?"

"Not tonight. Making that one up wore me out. My brain hurts, now."

Remus was quiet for a minute, his breathing deep and unsteady. "It's not entirely made up, though is it? Has the next part of the story been written yet?"

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked after a short pause. His fingers twitched.

"You know what I mean, Sirius. Has the Padfoot been guarding Kiernan's bed too?"

Sirius felt a crazy urge to laugh. "That's highly inappropriate, Moony-Moon. Boys don't generally discuss their, uh ... sex lives. With each other."

"Boys don't generally sleep on one another, but here we are." Sirius said nothing. Remus sighed. "I should bathe my wounds. Change the dressings. Too tired to move, but."

"Does it have to be done? Can it wait until morning?"

"Sure, probably. 'Sgonna have to anyway... I ain't moving."

"I should-"

"Will you stay?" Remus moved as if to lift his head, but didn't seem to be able to quite manage it. "I know it's inappropriate, but ... I just ... I'd like to you to stay."

"...Okay."

"Hm," Remus made a tiny noise of satisfaction. "Lie down, would you? You're all angle-y and uncomfortable."

"I'd like to remind you that I didn't ask to be your pillow," Sirius said, but shifted anyway.

"You don't really mind do you?" Remus' voice was getting fainter with every sentence. "I know you; you'd have told me where to go if you did."

"Yes, well, don't go putting it about that Sirius 'Delicious' Black has a nice side."

"Oh, I assure you, I won't."

Sirius finally gave in and put his arm around Remus' shoulders. His fingertips snagged to ends of Remus hair and toyed absently with them. Remus was right, boys just didn't do this sort of thing. It was just the sort of thing that Sirius was trying not to give in to. Yet, it felt so right, so proper, just to touch, just to be close...

Sirius could hear the change in Remus' breathing as the younger boy finally fell asleep. He knew nothing would budge him now.

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A/N: I think this chapter is one of my favourites so far. I hope you enjoyed it too. :)

Next month is the highly anticipated (or at least, so I've gathered!) Claudia chapter. See you then! Thanks guys. :D


	9. Suffragette City

A/N: Hello and Happy Holidays! Especial thanks to my loyal and wonderful (and now only, wah) reviewer, **Ravenna Reckless**! Consider this chapter a personal dedication, and thank you again for your lovely comments.

Anybody else who is reading and not reviewing, give a poor ficcer a late present and please review? Pretty please? :)

This month's chapter is based around my OC, Claudia, so features little slash. It is inspired by Bowie's _Suffragette City_, off the '72 album 'The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: No extra disclaimers this time, just the usual ones.

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Suffragette City

**Epi.**

"Hey man!"

"Leave me alone..."

"I said, 'hey man'!"

"Oh, Sirius, get off!"

Sirius was being his usual annoying self, bouncing back and forth between James and Remus, trying to get a reaction from one of them. James was morbidly pouting in the general direction of Lily Evans. Remus was frowning over his potions homework.

Peter was making himself as small as he could, coiled beside the fire, playing Clock. If Sirius saw him, his cards would doubtless end up scattered in the fire and that would not be a good thing, not for Peter and not for Sirius.

Not getting any attention from their own group, Sirius twirled his way across the room. He went over to harass Evans and her friends. Peter watched him. Sirius flipped himself in front of the girls, draping himself across the table. His hair was down to his chin now; he'd started growing it at the beginning of the term. Sirius said it was terribly fashionable, Peter thought maybe it was just terrible.

Then again, it did suit Sirius. Peter had noticed Remus' hair was also getting longer than usual in the last few months. Even James' hair was looking a little crazier than normal.

Peter drew his eyes back to Sirius – he had no idea what Sirius had done, but one girl suddenly stood up to her considerably unimpressive height, slapped Sirius, waving her hand back and catching both cheeks three times. She grinned at him and bit her thumb playfully, then rumpled Sirius' hair.

Despite the apparent nastiness, Sirius, too, was smiling and even leaned forward and kissed the girl on the cheek. Then he came back over to the group, beaming.

Peter's eyes were watching the girl as she sat back down. She was looking around at her friends, smile on her lips, laughter in her brown eyes.

He'd be watching that one...

**1.**

Claudia was born in France. Her mother was French, a halfblood witch who had attended Beauxbatons. Her father was English and had met her mother while in his thirties, when he visited France after changing careers. His new job sent him all around the world, to all kinds of magical places, and her parents spent much of their early years as friends, owling and seeing each other only every few months.

It wasn't until her father took long service leave that Claudia's parents began to properly court. It made for a strong relationship – their years of correspondence had formed a precious friendship. The friendship was the basis for their romance, and when they finally married neither were young anymore, at least not by muggle standards. It was sometime after their wedding before Claudia was born, and she was their only child.

The family settled in Normandy, where Claudia enjoyed her childhood, scaling cliffs and trawling beaches. They lived in a small village of wizarding families, where all the children attended classes with a governess. Claudia didn't miss having siblings, for she was a sweet girl and well liked. As she got older, she became more and more interested in the muggle way of life, something her mother was pleased to explore with her. They became especially knowledgeable on all things fashionable.

There was only one time that Claudia could recall her young life having any conflict in it – and that was when it came time to decide where Claudia should go to school. Having mixed cultural parentage, Claudia was offered a place at both Beauxbatons and Hogwarts. Her parents had not been able to agree about which school Claudia should attend. It had led to heated arguments, and even a mock duel as her parents tried each to prove their preference and influence their daughter. In the end, they had flipped a sickle and Claudia went to Hogwarts.

She had been instantly sorted into Gryffindor, which pleased her as the mascot was a golden lion on a red background. It made Hogwarts feel slightly more homely. She moved into a dormitory with three other girls, who were all wildly different. But Claudia found again that she was well liked by the others, and soon had made fast friendships not only with her dorm mates but most of the other students in her year and the year above her also. Lily Evans was someone she became especially close to, as Lily was a muggle born and Claudia was fascinated by hearing what being a muggle truly was like.

For her first school Christmas Claudia had returned home to find her parents were very proud of her progress. They bought her a tawny owl to take back to school with her.

Over her first two years at Hogwarts Claudia made friends and studied hard, and by her thirteenth birthday she was one of the more popular girls in the school, liked among students and teachers and Slytherins alike. On her thirteenth birthday, she began to listen to Sweet, and grow her hair. For her thirteenth birthday, she received gifts from her school friends – a bottle of scarlet nail polish from Lily, a Honeydukes gift box from her friends in third year; even the Marauders bought her a present – an exploding toothbrush.

Claudia was quite good at taking a joke, and her sense of humour was known for being broad, but having a toothbrush blow up in her mouth when she was tired and grouchy in the morning was a little outside her particular brand of jocularity.

Sirius was the first one she came across. He was alone of the Marauders, in the common room that morning, Transfiguration text books strewn around him. Other Gryffindors rambled about the place, collecting quills, brushing hair, tying shoes, vying for a spot in the queue at the portrait hole in order to get to breakfast. They moved aside when Claudia went flying through.

Her hair was furling around her forehead; it had a life of its own when she was angry. She stopped abruptly in front of Sirius, the offending toothbrush in her hand. She brandished it in Sirius' face.

He grinned up at her, rubbing his eyes. "Wotcher, Clair! You're very beautiful this morning."

"Quiet, you!" Claudia snapped, tasting scorched bristles on her tongue. "I am angry at you and you will hear about it!"

"That explains why you're so lovely looking. And I thought that was just a saying," Sirius said, calmly, packing his books away in a decidedly suspicious manner.

"Sirius Black," Claudia growled. Sirius looked at her mildly, flicked an eyebrow. "I am greatly unhappy with this stunt you have pulled on me! On my birthday and all! _Merde_!"

"Calm down, Clair," Sirius said. "It wasn't my idea. Us Marauders, we're a gang, each of us with a different role."

Claudia felt her hair curl and uncurl around her ears and neck. She frowned ferociously at Sirius. She wanted to believe him, indeed, had entertained an infatuation with him for most of the last term, but he was here and the others were not.

"Oh yes, it was definitely a team effort. So, you should really contain your histrionics until you can blame us all fairly."

"Sirius, shut up."

Claudia jerked her head up as a pair of boys came over to them. One was tall and blond, the other lean with long curly hair the colour of treated pine. The two stepped between the (almost) quarrelling Gryffindors, and Claudia dew herself up to her full, and considerably tiny, height. "Good," she snapped, "I can tell you all off at once!"

"Clair," another voice spoke, this one from behind her. _Great_, Claudia thought, _they're ganging up on me!_ "Let's chat."

A firm hand came down on her arm. The last thing Claudia saw before she was dragged away was Sirius making sure that his bag was securely shut. She turned to face her captor – it was James Potter. The captain himself. The Marauder in Chief.

"I am very unhappy with you lot," Claudia grumbled again.

"We gathered that," James said calmly, but his calm was different to Sirius' calm. "But, you know, it was only a joke."

"A joke!? I have a black tongue! I can taste burning toothbrush!"

"If we had done that to Evans, would you have laughed?"

"No!"

"Okay," James said, steering her through the portrait hole and into the corridor. "If we had done it to a Slytherin, would you have laughed?"

"I'm friends with most of the Slytherins."

"Snape, then?" James said, and Claudia had to admit she was impressed by his ability to stay so utterly unflustered. Her anger started to fade.

"... Probably," she reluctantly admitted.

"Well, then."

Claudia had no response to that. James grinned and thumped her amicably in the chin.

"You're a good sort, Clair. We don't mind you yelling at us."

"Uh, thanks..." Claudia said, and then realised she and James were heading towards breakfast. She was still in her pyjamas.

**2.**

Third year began warm and bright. Claudia enjoyed being back at school. She had missed her friends, even though she had visited with both Lily and Maria, a dark skinned girl in her dorm who played Keeper for Gryffindor. Claudia's parents had become close friends with the Potters, and Claudia and James had also seen each other over the break.

Her hair had finally grown longer than the 1920's style she had always worn it in, and now reached crazy, curling tendrils towards the collar of her school shirt.

She had three new bottles of nail polish, one gold, one purple and one dark red. She had a poster of David Bowie and a tube of blue mascara. Sirius was very taken with all of it, and sat beside her that first night, in the common room, turning bottle after bottle over in his hands. He blinked and grinned at the poster, and then flitted away back to his friends.

Claudia realised in that moment that she was no longer infatuated with him, but saw him more as a friend, and for that she was glad. She watched as he flounced over to where Remus was sitting with the other Marauders, and watched still as Sirius dragged the latter up from his seat. The two boys waltzed wildly around the room, Remus' record player lilting out a Mozart concerto in the background. Both boys were laughing, and Claudia saw a connection there that she suddenly wondered at. There was no name for it, but she could see that a different closeness existed between Sirius and Remus than between either of the two with their other friends.

Claudia strangely felt a little left out as she watched the four friends. All she wanted was to join their fun, but there was no way they would let her and she knew it. James glanced at her, smiled and waved, but wouldn't come over while Lily was sitting with Claudia. She simply waved back then returned to her friends.

Over the next few months Claudia got to know the Marauders a little better. They were all very kind to her, and yet their distance was never more obvious. There was no place for a girl in their band of brothers. Her own friends told her off, joking that they were no longer good enough for her. She made the effort to stop being distracted and appreciated them more. Her hair grew longer. Her nail colours got brighter. She began to put flowers in her button hole.

One day, Peter Pettigrew suddenly appeared beside her as she was heading to breakfast. "Morning, Clair," he said with a smile as she turned and acknowledged him.

"Good morning, Peter," she replied, echoing his smile. She noticed it was quite a nice smile. His teeth were small and sharp looking, but very neat and very white. His smile seemed ... infectious.

Peter reached out and plucked the flower from her button hole then presented her with another – a rose, yellow, and beautifully fragranced. Claudia felt herself flush with delight as Peter passed it to her. Suddenly, her face grew hotter as Peter gently took a hold of her shirt and manoeuvred the rose into the same button hole. Her body flooded with a sensation she didn't recognise, thrilled by Peter's hands on her shirt. She had realised that her breasts had begun to grow, and they were already not small.

Once the rose was in place, Peter straightened, and Claudia was aware of how much taller than her he was – not that that was a very hard description to fill. Peter smiled at her again, and just as suddenly as he appeared, he walked away. Claudia stood still, her fingers going to the rose at her bosom, her mind strangely befuddled. She didn't notice Peter breathing in the smell of the flower he had taken, and never saw him slip it into his pocket.

She was, however, always aware of him after that, even though Peter didn't approach her alone again. Sometimes she would watch him, frowning, trying to figure out his motivation regarding the flower, and trying to discover the source of her reaction to it and to him. She saw Peter was an able student, excelling in Potions and Charms, less good in Transfiguration. He was kind to younger students, helpful to teachers, and just a little slow on the uptake. The Slytherins liked to make him the butt of their jokes, and he took it with cheerful disregard. He liked card games.

At Christmas that year, Claudia was warming herself by the fire in Gryffindor common room, drinking butterbeer with Lily. When Lily left, Peter came over to her and asked for a quiet word. Claudia smilingly agreed, and Peter steered her gently to the corner of the room. Hanging there was a sprig of mistletoe, and Peter took her face between both his hands, looked into her eyes and smiled. Then he kissed her.

It was gentle, slow and sweet. His lips were warm and soft, and then he was suddenly gone, and Claudia stood alone, confused in the corner.

At New Year's, he kissed her again.

Gryffindor threw a big New Year party that year (like most years) and the students who had stayed at school for the holidays all sat up late, listening to the Wizarding Wireless and counting down to midnight. Once again, Peter appeared as if from thin air as the clock ticked down. His hand wrapped around her chin, and he kissed her again, gentle and warm, and whispered, "Happy New Year," and was gone again.

Claudia wrote to her mother for advice. Her mother thought the whole situation was wonderful and told Claudia not to think into it too much, and to enjoy the attention. Lily told her to search inside her heart, and to decide what her feelings were. Maria told her to kiss a few other boys and see how that made her feel.

Claudia laughed it all off and tried to put the kisses out of her mind.

It didn't work. She found herself constantly watching Peter, thinking about him, taking up hobbies she knew he enjoyed. She thought she must be a bit pathetic and wondered if she ought to be disgusted with herself. But that sort of thing wasn't in Claudia's nature, and she happily indulged in the feelings she was experiencing.

Finally, one day in March, Peter invited Claudia into Hogsmeade with him. He took her to the Hog's Head.

"Well, I considered taking you to Madam Puddifoot's," he explained, grinning, as they sat at the grimy bar, "but I don't think either of us would have enjoyed that."

"Probably not," Claudia said, smiling back in the way that only Peter could make her do. She fiddled with the red rose in her button hole, another gift from the blond boy. "This is fine. I'm a real person, you know, not a doll." To prove it she ordered a firewhisky. Aberforth squinted at her suspiciously, but poured a shot of liquor into a dirty-looking glass.

The young pair drank, and ate crisps, and chattered about their families and lives, pre-Hogwarts, as well as hopes and dreams for life after school.

Walking back through Hogsmeade, later, they passed the other three Marauders. Remus was looking peaky but cheery; he had just had a birthday. James was looking cheeky and secretive – his birthday was only days away, and anything might be planned for that. Sirius was looking upbeat and peppy, bouncing along in between his friends. The group approached Claudia and Peter once they saw them.

"Wotcher, Clair," James said companionably, while Remus nodded warmly. Claudia happily returned the greeting.

"Clair!" Sirius cried excitedly and gave her a bear hug, kissing her on the cheek. "It's been too long – I haven't seen you since breakfast! I've missed you, you know. Why're you out with Petie-Pete? C'mon, give us a kiss..."

Claudia stepped back, unable to stop the beaming grin that stretched across her face. "Sirius," she said as sternly as she could, but there was laughter in her voice, "I told you, it was only that One Time. Time to move on, like I have." She put her chin in the air, then, by some strange compulsion she never could place, tapped him hard on the nose and winked. Sirius went cross eyed and grinned back; everybody laughed and then the friends went again on their separate ways.

Claudia and Peter walked a while in comfortable silence. As they crossed the grass back to the castle, he suddenly said, "I like you."

Claudia felt a small thrill in the pit of her belly. "Thank you. I like you too."

Peter stopped walking, and placed a hand on her waist, turning her to face him. Claudia did, tipping her head back to meet his eyes.

"Would you be my girlfriend, Claudia Clair?" he asked. His voice was soft, but there was no nervousness in it. Claudia liked that.

"Yes."

**3.**

They took it slow, and both celebrated birthdays, and got to know each other. They owled and visited during holidays, and by the time fourth year started they were the closest of friends. Claudia wanted to be everywhere Peter was and he couldn't help from touching her whenever they were close. Every morning he brought her a new rose to place in her button hole.

Their closeness, however, caused problems amongst the Marauders.

Claudia occasionally would sit with the boys, and she couldn't help but notice the tension it would create in the group. It upset her to know that she was the cause of it. Individually she got along with all the boys equally well, but when they were all together the closeness between them shut her out. Their conversations became stilted and monitored. There was no place for her among them.

The whole of fourth year was uncomfortable whenever Claudia tried to join in the group. By the time her fifteenth birthday rolled around she was at a loss as to what to do. She and Peter spent time alone together and their relationship was strong, but she wanted to be a part of his world, and wanted him to be a part of hers. Whenever Peter sat with her and her girlfriends there was no awkwardness, at least not after they all got to know one another. They would ask him for advice on how to impress certain boys, and he could happily hold his own in a conversation about the fashionable colours for trousers.

This sometimes only made Claudia's separation from the Marauders even more painfully evident. By the time _Peter's_ fifteenth birthday arrived, even he had to admit the coolness was beginning to irk. He being male, Claudia noticed that he was quite content with things the way they were, but he confessed that it was sometimes difficult to share time among friends and girlfriend.

"It's not that they don't like you," Peter said late one night when the two of them were lying together in his bed. "It's just that ... well, you're not one of us. Us Marauders, we're kinda like a secret society. There are things that we don't let on, that no one can ever know... I can't really explain it. But hold the phone; I'm working on something."

Of course, in true Marauder fashion, he refused to tell her what the plan was. And Claudia's frustration simply grew. When she complained that being female shouldn't mean she was automatically excluded, Peter simply ruffled her hair and said he'd never pictured her as a suffragette.

Those summer holidays Claudia saw her friends quite a bit. She visited Peter in Manchester, and saw James too. Lily came to stay with her and got marvellously sunburnt. When they went back to school for fifth year, Claudia's hair was a longer still, her clothes were a little wilder and her nail polish collection had become big enough to need its own suitcase. Sirius would sometimes come and borrow a bottle; he too had become enamoured of brightly painted nails and brightly painted eyes. Sometimes, Claudia noticed, Sirius would borrow a bottle to paint Remus' nails with.

The boys had discovered the trials and tribulations of strong drink over the holidays, and enjoyed every moment of teenage rebellion they could wean from a bottle. Claudia was not invited on their secretive weekend trips, and so instead stored up whatever information she could to torment them with. One morning she found them all, hung over and unconscious, sprawled like vagrants around the Hogwarts grounds. She took photos of them all, which Sirius promptly stole and she never saw again.

It was late one Friday night when Claudia was coming back from an OWL study group that things finally changed. The Marauders were crowded around the dying fire in a tight circle, laughing and whispering. They were huddled around something she couldn't see.

"So, if we cut through here," James was saying, pointing, "we should be able to get away unseen, and we won't need a head start."

"But what if Snape isn't there?" this was Peter.

"He will be," James said calmly, "because Remus has kindly offered himself as bait."

All heads turned to face Remus, Claudia's included. The facial expressions varied widely among the Marauders – James was calm, Peter mildly admiring, Sirius' expression was something akin to anger while Remus himself looked just purely uncomfortable.

"Why?" Sirius asked, in a hostile tone.

"Because," Remus answered, his voice as mild as James' expression, "Snape knows I am rubbish at potions, and cannot resist an opportunity to show off his particular brand of intelligence."

"Seems to me you just enjoy spending time in Snape's company. Didn't you ask him for help in third year, too?"

"If you recall, Sirius," and now Remus' tone took on an annoyed current, "that was because Slughorn chose our potions partners in third year. And you didn't seem to mind at all being paired with Padrick Donnahan."

The edge in Remus' voice was frightening, Claudia thought, and she noticed that even Sirius backed down when it was aimed at him.

James was rolling his eyes. "We know you're as committed to the war on Snape as we are, Remus. It's not your fault Snape has a soft spot for you."

Remus was about to flare up, Claudia could see it, but the mischievous smile on James' lips quietened him down. Claudia was surprised; she had never seen a temper in Remus and wouldn't have believed him capable of anger.

"Leave it," was all Remus eventually said, in a tone as flat as death.

Claudia sucked in a sharp breath, and wasn't surprised when the boys stopped the teasing. There was a frightening quality to Remus' voice, the promise of an abominable threat.

"Anyway," James said, his voice as mild as before, "the getaway should be fairly straight forward. I hope."

"You _hope_?" Sirius questioned, one eyebrow exquisitely arched. "Oy, mate, I am not putting my arse _and_ my hairstyle on the line unless you're _one hundred percent_ sure we'll be safe."

"Not really putting anything on the line then, are you?" Peter interjected slyly. Sirius threw him a look, but Claudia could see there was no real negativity in it.

"Well," James started reluctantly. He pointed again. "Y'see, this passageway is frequented by Slytherins making babies."

"JAMES!" This was Sirius and Peter, simultaneously, while Remus snickered beside them.

"Jesus bloody Christ mate, I do not want to be picturing that!"

"Poor Petie-Pete, now every time you take Clair to bed you'll be remembering that the Slytherins are multiplying all around us."

"Remus! Stop talking about it!"

Remus raised his brows in an innocent 'make me' expression, directed at Sirius. Sirius poked his tongue out and then grinned back.

"So what is the point of that seriously disturbing information, Jim-bo?" Remus queried.

"Don't call me Jim-bo," James grumbled. He sucked a breath in through his nose and shoved his glasses higher before continuing in an impressively patronising tone. "_Because_, dearests, _if_ there are sleazy Slytherins having a wham-bam, thank you ma'am, _we're_ gonna get caught. And Snivellus' fellow serpents will _not_ thank us nor cover for us. We'll be nicked."

There was a pregnant silence after this. While Claudia could not tell exactly what the situation was, she knew the boys were all trying to discover a way to solve the predicament facing them.

"Can I help?" She spoke, moving swiftly to where the Marauders were sitting. There was a sudden flurry of activity as the boys tried to hide their secrets away; it was too late. Claudia had seen that they were crowded around a large square of parchment. She held her hand out for it, and Peter, smiling, passed the sheet to her. The other three gaped at her, aghast.

Claudia studied the parchment and was very impressed, though she was careful not to let it show. It was a map, a very extensive map, of Hogwarts, with small, printed feet wandering across it. She wondered how it was that the boys had missed her coming into the common room, for there were her footprints, right beside theirs. But then she remembered that they had been planning something, a prank against Severus Snape.

"What's the plan and what's the problem?" Claudia asked, not looking up. She didn't need to, she could feel their livid expressions on her.

Peter answered. "We're planning a super-prank. It's been ages since we pulled one. We're going to lure Snape down to the dungeons-"

"Using Remus as bait," Claudia said, nodding, rolling the parchment until the dungeons came into view.

"Right," Peter said amicably, though Claudia could hear the others growling at him now. "And then we play the prank – that I can't tell you about – and we get away, Remus included." Peter came over to her, and pointed to one of the small spare potion dungeons, one that was kept for student groups. "This is the dungeon we're going to use. And we were going to use this passageway," again Peter pointed, "to escape quickly."

Claudia nodded. "Except James has just told you that Slytherins like to shag there."

"CLAIR!" Remus and Sirius hollered. Remus slapped his hands over Sirius' ears.

"Don't listen, my dear," Remus said, looking pityingly at the other boy.

"Burned! Burned forever onto my brain! My poor impressionable brain! Kiss it better?" Sirius batted his eyelids.

Remus smiled and winked. "Maybe in your dreams, my old boy."

James rolled his eyes.

Claudia took this all in, but was focussing on the map in her hand. She was running one finger across the dungeons, frowning.

"Where's the Hanging Knight passageway?" Claudia suddenly asked.

"... The what?" James asked, sounding slightly suspicious.

Claudia sat down beside him and Peter sat as well. She pointed to the map, and the boys leaned in to see. Claudia was momentarily distracted by Sirius and Remus – their hands were touching, two of Sirius' fingers draped casually across two of Remus' own. Neither boy seemed to notice. She pulled her concentration back to the map.

"Here," Claudia said, her finger on the map. "This is the hall Peter said you want to use to get away by. That's the one with the tapestry of Fiach the Fearless, isn't it? You're right about the Slytherins there, but even though you'd get away quick, you'd have no option but to run up to the second floor, because that passage leads to the hidden spiral staircase, doesn't it." It was a statement, not a question, and the boys all looked vaguely stunned.

Claudia moved her finger across the map. "You'd be better off going through the Hanging Knight passage, here. It's a little further from the dungeon, but it leads straight into the Hufflepuff basement, right near the kitchens, straight passage, no stairs, much quicker route to take. But it's not on here –why not?"

The Marauders exchanged glances, and it was Peter who finally replied. "It's not on here, because we don't know about it."

Now Claudia was stunned. "True?" she grinned. "Here you lot are, with your sneaky map, and your millions of ways to break the rules, and you don't know about the underground hallway. I use it every time I pinch left over desserts from the kitchen – it's a great place to eat without anyone trying to filch things from you."

"You know how to get into the kitchens?" Sirius looked impressed now.

"I've been trying for over a year to break that door in," James agreed, nodding his approval to Claudia, one eyebrow arched high. "Well, well, Clair. Looks like we might have underestimated you. Not quite so squeaky clean as we all thought."

Claudia laughed. "Definitely not!"

James winked suggestively at Peter, and Claudia elbowed the bespectacled boy in the ribs for it, but they were all laughing now.

Over the next few days, Claudia showed them the few hidden doorways and passages she knew about that they didn't, and was glad to be included. Yet, whenever she tried to use their Marauder's Map, she found only silly writings from each of the boys, under their nicknames: _Mr Moony wishes Miss Clair will have a good day and begs her not to find the passage to the Shrieking Shack_;_ Mr Prongs warmly greets Miss Clair, and would thank her for putting a good word in for him with Evans_;_ Mr Padfoot acknowledges Miss Clair gratefully, and thanks her for the lend of her glittery nail polish_;_ Mr Wormtail offers Miss Clair his deepest affection and invites her to Hogsmeade next weekend_.

She simply shook her head and laughed. She might have found her way into the group, but there were certain secrets the boys would not give up – the secret of their map, which they were careful about showing her, the secret of Remus' chronic illness, and, she was sorry to say, the secret of their prank on Snape. She never found out what exactly that prank was, only that Snape was absent from classes for two days and when he came back he reeked of onions and his skin was canary yellow. Strangely, he almost looked healthier.

**Pro.**

"Hey, man!"

"Oh, leave me alone!"

"Hey man!"

"Oy, Sirius, piss off!"

"But I gotta-"

"Hey man! Hey man! _Hey man_!"

"... Freak out, Remus."

"_Leave me alone_."

"Oh fine."

Peter was sitting on the floor of the Gryffindor common room, watching Sirius annoy a very tired-looking Remus. When the annoyance finally worked, Sirius crossed to James, who was finishing up an essay. Sirius slouched into the couch next to him, and leaned across, peering at James' parchment.

"Don't lean on me, man," James said, shoving him away.

Peter cowered as he saw Sirius was about to come over to him and his cards, but suddenly the portrait hole opened and Claudia came whirlwind-ing in. She threw herself into Peter's lap – his cards scattered and he fell backwards, landing hard on his elbows. He straightened himself, and wrapped one hand into Claudia's long curls. "I think you just put my back out," he said and kissed her.

"I'll bet it was worth it," she mumbled, kissing him back.

"Oh, yes," Peter replied, and knew he never wanted to let her out of his sight.

* * *

A/N: Next chapter will be more slash-y goodness, 'cause writing this has given me withdrawals. Hope everyone liked an insight into Claudia's backstory. :) Thanks all!


	10. Can You Hear Me?

A/N: Here we are again. Many thanks to my marvellous **Ravenna Reckless**, you are the only reason I keep updating every month!

This month's chapter is inspired by Bowie's 1975 song, 'Can You Hear Me?' from _Young Americans_.

Disclaimer: Don't own Bowie, don't own Harry Potter. More's the pity.

* * *

Can You Hear Me?

"Can they hear us?"

"Sirius, you know my silencing charms are foolproof. Haven't I proved that? Besides, there's no one there to hear us."

There was a silence.

"You're right, I can't hear a thing."

"Hmm. It's nice to be alone."

"Most assuredly."

Sirius and Remus were curled, side by side, on Sirius' bed. It was the middle of the day, and they were both supposed to be in Charms class, but skipping it was much more pleasant. Remus knew he should have been doing schoolwork, but had decided against it. Skipping classes was a common practice among all four of the Marauders, usually spent in thinking up mischievous deeds, but today it was only Remus and Sirius, totally alone...

And very glad for it, Remus was.

They were laying simply, side by side, hands curled together between them.

"I can't believe this is really happening," Sirius said quietly. His eyes were shining in the light his wand cast, and there was a gentle smile gracing his pouting lips. "I've wanted this for so long. So many nights of heartache, and I remember them all like they were only yesterday..."

"They almost were," Remus said, returning the smile. He whispered, "Don't think of that now," and shifted his body slightly, closing the gap between them enough to kiss Sirius. It was slow and soft and warm. The air around them filled with gentle sighs and rustling sheets as they shared a most sweet kiss.

"Why did we wait so long for this?" Remus said breathlessly when the kiss ended. His hand was on Sirius' neck, their bodies tucked closely together. He could feel the heavy beat of Sirius' racing heart thumping against his own. He laughed, just a little.

"What is it?" Sirius asked. His eyes were closed now, no shining silver gleaming back at Remus. Sirius was stroking his hair, and it felt marvellous.

"I can feel you, inside me – like, your heartbeat, I mean. It's nice."

"Mm."

There was silence again, with both boys just being content to be alone together. It was the earliest days of their relationship; they had been a couple, officially, for less than a week, and getting to know each other romantically was more involved than they had imagined. Of course, Remus knew, that was only because they wanted it to be. Any excuse to be alone together was a good one.

Remus fiddled with the buttons on Sirius' school shirt. Their ties were undone, tossed at the bottom of the bed. Their bare feet were touching; Remus was delighted to learn that Sirius had ticklish feet. The older boy's toenails were painted in the Gryffindor colours of red and gold, one colour per foot. Remus looked at his fingers, toying idly with the button. His own toenails had been painted an ice blue, but were starting to chip. He knew Sirius would want to repaint them, probably that very day. It was a custom Remus had allowed initially just for the physical contact. Now it seemed superfluous, but it was a ritual and a fashion statement, and one was important to him, the other was important to Sirius.

"Do you want me to take my shirt off?" Sirius asked suddenly, his voice quiet and coy.

"Hm?" Remus looked up and met the silvery glow of his boyfriend's eyes. "What?"

"Well, you might as well just undo the buttons, you're fiddling with them so much."

Remus smiled. "Maybe that's just what you want."

"Oh," Sirius said darkly, "I definitely want that."

Remus felt his eyes flutter closed as Sirius kissed him, a kiss that was warm and strong, deep and full of promise. Their tongues met; shivers ran down Remus' spine and he edged himself closer to Sirius. The latter wrapped an arm tightly around Remus' back, holding their bodies tight together. Remus sucked Sirius' bottom lip into his mouth, slowly, then bit it.

"Ow," Sirius said vaguely, pulling away. He put his tongue to his lip, testing for blood Remus guessed, and the werewolf quickly pressed a kiss-it-better kiss to the brunet's lips.

"Ow nothing," Remus said airily, relaxing into Sirius' embracing arm. "You loved it."

"You're dreadful," Sirius said, frowning. "I knew there was a reason I had refrained for so long from kissing you."

"Oh, yes? How long exactly?" Remus asked, his tone teasing, but actually he wondered in surprise just how long it had been.

"Too long, really," Sirius replied evasively, and kissed him some more. Then he said, "I'm quite happy to take off my shirt you know."

"I'm sure," Remus replied, smiling. "Would you like me to take off mine?"

"Absolutely."

So Remus did, smiling cheekily all the while. He undid one button at a time, slowly and with difficulty given his position. Eventually all the buttons were undone and Remus struggled to get his right arm out of the sleeve. The left sleeve he ignored, as he was lying on it.

Sirius was running his hand across Remus' bare skin. Even though they all shared a dorm room, Remus didn't flash his skin around quite as much as the other boys. In the early days it had been necessary to hide his bite scar from them, and even now, once a month he was covered in the marks of his transformation, something he wasn't fond of people seeing.

He felt himself blush a little.

"Are you okay?" Sirius asked gently, watching his hand as he slowly explored the smooth expanse of Remus' skin.

"I'm fine. Just a little nervous. It's not often I'm undressed and in someone else's bed."

"Sure beats a game of chess, doesn't it?"

"Mhm," Remus murmured and flinched as Sirius' fingers brushed a particularly sensitive spot on his back.

"We're not going to do anything," Sirius murmured quietly. "Not at school, anyway, I don't think. I don't want to sound ... you know, um eunuchised, but ... not at school."

"That's fine," Remus replied, his fiddling fingers now slowly undoing Sirius' buttons. "It's only a couple of days until school lets out. I'm sure we can both wait."

"I think that's for the best. I want to get to know you better first," Sirius said and started to laugh.

"You'll have to buy me dinner before you expect me to put out," Remus joined in.

"I expect two Galleons an hour," Sirius countered.

"Then you'd better be bloody good!" Remus cried, laughing harder. Sirius laughed with him.

"Oh, honey," Sirius said in a most seductive voice, when they had finished, "I think you'll find I'm well worth the money..." his tongue was practically _in_ Remus' ear.

Remus kept his cool. "Do you come with references?"

"References! No, take my word for it!"

"No, sorry," Remus replied. "I think you'll have to convince me."

"Oh, I will," Sirius said, sultry again. He planted a kiss on Remus' neck. "But not today."

"If you're as good as you claim," Remus replied, arching his neck into Sirius' kiss, "then I'm sure the wait will be well worth it."

"Sometimes the wait makes it sweeter," Sirius agreed.

"You speaking from experience?"

"Maybe."

"Oh, c'mon. We're a couple now. No secrets between Marauders, especially between ones who're making out most of the time."

"Not enough of the time," Sirius said, pressing his lips to the soft skin beneath Remus' ear again.

"Is that a challenge, or a promise?"

"Mm, you tell me..."

Yes, Remus definitely thought skipping classes was far more fun than attending them. The boys didn't leave the bed until tea time, and then went down to the Great Hall, holding hands. They sat side by side at the table. James looked at them wearily.

"Where've you lot been then," he asked. There were dark rings around his eyes and his glasses were making a downward slide for freedom.

"Studying," Sirius said smoothly.

"So, you were either making out or fiddling with that ridiculous muggle vehicle."

"She is not _ridiculous_! And I don't fiddle! I am a master mechanic. In fact, I'll have you know-"

"You know better than to start him up, Jamie," Remus said flippantly, reaching for the potatoes and serving both himself and his lover.

"Yeah," James agreed around a yawn.

"What's up with you?" Remus said, arching one eyebrow and looking shrewdly at James.

"Detention. Slughorn had me clean the entire first year potions dungeon – in the muggle style. And then I went out to Quidditch practice."

"So you brought it on yourself," Remus said wisely, nodding sagely, but he winked playfully and got a smile in return.

"What'd ya get detention for?" Sirius said, sitting up alertly and putting his hands on the table. He looked decidedly canine.

A cheeky grin slid slowly across James' lips. "Got Snivellus good. Turned him into a toad and then performed _levicorpus_ on him, then dropped him in Peter's cauldron."

"And what was in Peter's cauldron?" Remus asked, the sly smile echoing on his own mouth.

James said, somewhat smugly, "A very handsomely brewed skin-setting potion."

The three boys all roared with laughter. Sirius and Remus both swivelled in their seats, looking for Snape; Remus spied him, sitting near the end of the Slytherin table. His skin was the splotchy green-brown of a toad, and even from across the hall Remus could see it shining with an amphibian grease.

"So, you had Peter in on it?" Sirius asked, proudly.

"Sure did," Peter said, as he plonked his body down on the bench next to James and reached for the bread. "Doesn't old Snivel's suit his name now?"

The Marauders all laughed together. "Where would we be without your potion skills, Petie?" James asked, fondly.

"I dunno, you do pretty well with your Transfiguration skills," Peter said fairly.

"True enough," James said on another yawn. He thumbed his sliding glasses further up his nose and shook his untameable hair out of his eyes.

"Too bad we missed out," Sirius said, looking at Remus. His eyes didn't seem to agree with his statement; Remus knew he wasn't sorry at all with the way they had spent the afternoon. Sirius' hand slid across his leg and wrapped around Remus' own hand.

Remus smiled at Sirius before turning back to his other friends. They talked about the other lessons that they had skipped; it seemed James and Peter had more than made up for half of the Marauders being indisposed.

"Ooh, look, tongue," Peter suddenly said excitedly, taking the platter up and serving himself and Remus.

The meal was rounded off discussing the upcoming Bowie concert the boys would be attending during the Christmas break. They finalised all their plans, and ate chocolate mousse for dessert, and then Remus and Sirius left the table. As they exited the Great Hall they passed Kiernan O'Daigh. The redheaded boy smiled kindly and nodded at the pair before heading out into the Entrance Hall and up the stairs.

Remus and Sirius turned the other way, heading out of the castle and into the dark night. The moon was waning, and for that Remus was glad. It didn't pull at his bones with that painful intensity; instead, Sirius took his hand and pulled him along behind him. They headed for the lake and as they went, Remus set to teasing.

"You know, you owe me a story, remember?"

"Hey?" Sirius asked, slowing and turning to face Remus. His grey eyes glittered in the moonlight.

"You promised me a second instalment in the Prince Delicious and Sunny O'Sky saga."

"I'm keeping that story until the next full moon," Sirius said evasively.

"No you're not. You just don't want to tell me what happened between you two."

"Nothing important."

"Unicorn apples," Remus said, smiling.

"Maybe it is. Maybe the story is really far out. Maybe I'll expect a story in return."

"What makes you think there's one to tell?"

"Isn't there?" Sirius sounded surprised.

"Would that be so shocking?" Remus asked, keeping a teasing tone in his voice.

"Yes. I'd be totally stunned if there was no one. Baby, you're gorgeous. People must chase after you."

"With pitchforks, yes," Remus murmured.

"With what?" Sirius asked.

"Nothing," Remus replied. "I'm putting myself down."

Sirius stopped walking and wrapped his arms around Remus. "Don't do that, nazz. It makes me sad."

"I don't mean anything by it," Remus said, putting his face into the warm skin of Sirius' neck. "I'm allowed to make fun of myself."

"Mm. I suppose. Doesn't mean it's good for you."

"Yes, it is. If I can't find some humour out of being a werewolf I think it would drive me mad."

Sirius pulled back and looked at him. "I hadn't thought of that," he said lowly, then smiled. "You are truly wonderful."

"Don't you forget it," Remus replied, smiling back. He leaned forward and kissed Sirius gently. Sirius' arms tightened around him, one hand closing tightly on his hip, preventing Remus from ending the kiss too soon.

"So is that a deal?" Sirius asked at length, when the kissing stopped and they began to walk again.

"What?"

""I'll tell you my story if you tell me yours."

Remus giggled. Sirius pouted, then joined in. "I suppose so," Remus finally said.

The pair sat down by the edge of the Great Lake. Remus kicked off his (very fashionable) shoes and trailed his toes in the water. It was icy, but pleasant. Sirius did the same. "So who's going first?" Remus asked, with a faint smile.

"I dunno. Odds and evens?"

"Yeah, okay. You call it."

"Even," Sirius said.

The boys both put out their right hands, pumped them three times and both stuck out two fingers. Remus breathed in a smug sigh. "You first," he said. "Prince Delicious and Sunny O'Sky chapter two. Nine months overdue."

"Fine," Sirius said, his own sigh far different to Remus'. He began.

"Are you checking me out?" Remus looked up from his parchment to find Sirius staring at him. He questioned the brunet boy in a whisper, mindful of Professor Flitwick one row over.

"Absolutely," Sirius replied, grinning. "I am your man, it's my prerogative."

"You're a bad man," Remus replied, returning the smile.

"Not as bad as you," Sirius whispered, sliding his hand slowly onto and down Remus' thigh.

"Yes, maybe," Remus grinned, his hand dropping to cover Sirius'.

"Good thing I love you then, eh?"

"Mm."

"I love you, _most_ of all."

"You are silly."

"I speak only the truth," Sirius said, and pouted.

"I know." Remus turned to his lover and kissed him, not as quickly or as chastely as he should have, and said, "I love you too."

"Will you lot shut up?" Peter hissed at them from the desk in front of them. "This is actually interesting."

"Yes, well, Flitwick can't teach me anything if McGonagall can't," Sirius returned with a smug smile.

"Amen, brother," James said over his shoulder.

"Oh yeah?" Peter said, turning fully so the pair could see his sceptically raised eyebrow. "Prove it."

"Oh," Remus groaned and shut his eyes. "Peter, did you have to?"

"I will then!" Sirius announced triumphantly, and gestured to James. Identical evil grins stretched across the two boys' faces. Sirius muttered a few words under his breath and twirled his wand flamboyantly towards to ceiling. James did the same, his words slightly different, his flourish exactly the same.

With a synchronous final flick towards the ceiling, a crowd of coloured stars exploded from both wands, silver and gold, and shot upwards, exploding when they hit the roof and when the glittering specks fell away two dragons were in their place, floating against the ceiling.

Some girls in the class yelped, and Flitwick's lecture came to an abrupt halt as his gaze turned to the roof. One of the dragons roared enormously and swooped. Someone screamed. The other dragon beat its wide wings, the tips coming down close to people's heads. Half of the class ducked.

"Professor, do something!" someone yelled. The dragons roared again and swooped and soared, shooting jets of fire at each other as students clambered under their desks. Flitwick stood impervious in the centre of the room. Peter rolled his eyes. Remus tried, unsuccessfully, to hide his smile. James and Sirius were both laughing openly.

When the classroom had been appropriately terrorised, Sirius twirled his wand again and his dragon vanished from overhead, tumbling from the ceiling and condensing. Sirius put his hand out, and the fallen dragon landed in it, transfigured during the descent into a bouquet of red roses.

"Here you are, my love," Sirius said pleasantly, passing the roses to Remus.

"My darling strong soldier, a thousand thank yous," Remus replied, rolling his eyes.

James twirled his wand, and his dragon too fell, landing in his open palm as a pair of white chocolate mice. He passed one to Peter and ate the other.

"Very impressive boys!" Flitwick cried approvingly. He clapped his hands and then returned to his lecture. Sirius and James shared cheeky grins.

Remus plucked one of the roses from the bouquet and passed it to Sirius. "For your button hole, my dear," he said gallantly.

Sirius frowned. "Are you saying I'm the woman in this relationship, Monsiuer Moonstrual Moony?"

Remus frowned as well, in bemusement. "You give me a bouquet of roses and I say thank you. I offer one back to you and you insult me. Well, just for that I'm taking the rose back."

Sirius pouted. "Well that's very unchivalrous of you."

"No it isn't. You've offended me now." Remus twisted in his seat, arms crossed, and came nose to nose with Professor Flitwick. He jolted backwards in surprise and thumped heavily into Sirius.

"Do you know the answer, Mr Lupin?" Flitwick said, leaning in even closer. Remus felt Sirius' arm slide possessively around his waist.

"Um," Remus said, thinking rapidly. He hadn't heard any of the lecture so far and had no idea what the question had been. "Uh, deosil?"

"Very good!" Flitwick clapped his hands once and wandered away. Remus breathed a sigh of relief.

"Mmm," Sirius hummed huskily into Remus' ear. "This is nice." His fingers wriggled into the waistband of Remus' trousers, fiddling until he had managed to get Remus' shirt untucked. Remus giggled as Sirius tickled his thin belly.

"Hang on a minute," Remus said, leaning back into Sirius' embrace and resting his head into the curve of Sirius' neck, "I'm in a grump with you."

"No you're not," Sirius said, his mouth right at Remus' ear.

"No," Remus agreed. "But I should be. You are very rude to me. Don't think I'm gonna put out tonight."

"Rude bugger, you are," Sirius said, his breath hot. "If I wanted you to, I'm sure I could get you to put out."

"Don't be so sure of that," Remus replied, twitching a little as Sirius pressed a kiss to the sensitive skin behind his ear. "Damn flirt. I'm going to make you wait for it now."

"You wouldn't!" Sirius somehow managed to exclaim and sound seductive at the same time.

"Wouldn't I?" Remus said smugly.

"Hm, well, I don't know. Perhaps you would," Sirius said, his voice sounding deceptively reasonable. "I've heard that the longer you wait the better it is, anyway. Didn't I say that yesterday?"

"Doesn't that depend on how good one is in bed?" Remus asked, ignoring the second question. Yes, he remembered, they _had_ already had this conversation.

There was a pause. "I don't know," Sirius said. "Maybe not. I think, uh, love and stuff has something to do with it too."

"Oh, right." Remus said coyly, "I guess that could make a difference, too."

"You _guess_? Well, if that's the way it is, I'd better bring my A-game when we do go to bed."

"I highly recommend that you do," Remus replied, his voice deadly serious. He was glad Sirius couldn't see his expression – he was grinning wide enough to make his cheeks begin to hurt.

"Got a score card drawn up for me, have you?"

"Absolutely. Though I think you can probably earn some points right now."

"Oho," Sirius said cheerily. "Is that an invitation?"

"More like an encouragement," Remus said. He tipped his head a little to the side, exposing his neck and inviting Sirius to stop talking and put his mouth to better use.

It didn't work. "I'd better not," Sirius said in a whisper, after a pause. "Jim and Petie are both throwing us pretty awful looks. We don't want to be left out of another prank, do we?"

Remus sighed. "No, I guess not." He straightened up and turned around in his seat again. Sirius let him, but kept his arm about the younger boy's waist, under Remus' untucked shirt. Both boys glanced across the room to where Snape was sitting, in a front corner. They snickered together. James and Peter looked around once again, followed their friends' line of vision, and joined in.

Later, after class, Remus and Sirius threw themselves down on the couch in the Gryffindor common room. They were at opposite ends, reclining, their legs coiled together.

"Let me paint your toenails," Sirius said plaintively all of a sudden.

"You painted them last week," Remus said, pretending to ignore Sirius by hiding behind a book that he was painfully aware was upside down. He had been wrong; Sirius hadn't asked to repaint his toenails for an entire day longer than Remus had expected.

"But they're chipping. Hey, check this out."

Remus lowered his book slowly, and surreptitiously flipped it at the same time, so that when he went to hide again it would look less contrived. He watched Sirius, who worrisomely had his wand pointed at Remus' toes. With a muttered word and a strange wink, Sirius gently tapped each of Remus' toenails and the werewolf watched, mildly amazed, as the old, chipped polish vanished.

"Very impressive," Remus said, bending one foot up and wriggling his toes before his eyes.

"Thank you. Came up with that one myself. Very pleased with it. Don't tell Claudia though, I enjoy watching her swear at her bottle of muggle polish stinky-stuff."

"Yes, I know you do," Remus said with a wry smile. Sirius was always present for Claudia's weekly nail painting and found her ritual for removing the old polish quite amusing.

"Well, what colours would you like then?" Sirius asked, standing in preparation to fetch his box of nail polishes.

"Not green," Remus said, pretending to read.

"Any other requests?" Sirius asked, poking Remus in the shoulder in an effort to get his attention. Remus steadfastly ignored him.

"Surprise me."

"Very well," Sirius replied, and moved towards the stairs.

"Bring some chocolate down, would you?" Remus called after him, checking to see what his book was called. He realised in hindsight that he should have expected trouble. Sirius' voice had that naughty tone he reserved especially for the times when he was plotting against his friends.

Sirius reappeared, tossed a bar of chocolate to Remus and then returned to his end of the couch, lifting Remus' feet into his lap and beginning the painting process. Remus kept his book up, but he still wasn't reading, he was relishing his chocolate.

"All done!" Sirius cried about twenty minutes later.

"Marvellous," Remus replied, popping the last piece of his chocolate into his mouth. "Now you can stop tickling my feet."

"Aren't you going to admire my foot-li-work?"

There it was again, that specially reserved, wicked tone of voice. Remus felt a bead of dread drip down his spine and slowly, slowly, lowered his book, lifted a foot, and inspected his nails.

They were

Pink.

"Sirius! You bastad!" Remus cried angrily, and threw his book aside (gently!), twisting himself around on the couch to slap Sirius repeatedly. The brunet was laughing maniacally. Remus threw in a kick for good measure.

"Careful!" Sirius yelped. "You'll smudge the polish!"

"I'll do more than bloody smudge it! _Pink_!"

"It suits you!" Sirius jeered, and grabbed Remus' wrists as a volley of punches came his way again.

They both knew that Remus could snap Sirius' bones like dry twigs without even trying. It didn't matter; when Sirius' hands came up in defensive restraint, Remus stopped. There was a tense moment as the boys stared at each other, both somewhat predatory, and then Sirius reached up and slapped Remus on the cheek.

The rough housing began again, both boys tumbling about the couch and landing awkward hits. Remus reached up and grabbed Sirius' hair, a move intended to win him the battle. Instead, he was surprised when Sirius wrapped his own hand into Remus' long curls, pulled him down sharply and kissed him fiercely.

Remus was so astounded, and so desired to win their wrestle, that he bit Sirius' lip, rather hard.

Sirius pulled back. They were both breathing heavily. "Sorry," he said after a moment, and his voice was raspy. "Bit hard to be that close to you and not kiss you, really."

"That's okay," Remus said and smiled, and leaned back in to kiss Sirius properly. They were sitting awkwardly on the couch and Remus suddenly wished they were alone, and not at school, and that Sirius' jeans were not so very tight.

Sirius seemed to agree. His hand in Remus' hair was a death grip, and his kiss was passionate. "Gah," he said when they pulled apart. "I know I said we shouldn't go to bed while we're at school... if ... but. Ah, I dunno..."

"Oh Sirius, your romance is boundless," Remus said sarcastically, but kissed his boyfriend again. Teasingly dirty thoughts raced through his mind and he giggled, but didn't voice them. "I think you were right, though. We don't need to rush anything."

"Yeah," Sirius said somewhat hoarsely. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Yeah, you're right."

"I often am."

Sirius hit him, but grinned. "It's just that you're so damn sexy, you know?"

"Am I?" Remus said, genuinely surprised. "Well, thank you."

"Silly bugger," Sirius said affectionately and pulled him in for another kiss. "I'm always checking you out, you know. Wearing out my pupils, I am."

"Well."

"Well," Sirius echoed. His other hand was running up and down Remus' back, holding their bodies close together. "Mm, it's good to be so close to you. You smell pretty fucking sexy too."

"Closer than any others?"

"Absolutely," Sirius said gently. "I'm _your_ man."

Remus snorted a derisive grunt. "Well, I'd like to say the same, but I have pink toenails so I think I have given up my rights to male-hood."

Sirius laughed. "You deserved it, ignoring me like that."

"Diddums."

"Heartless."

Remus sighed and shrugged. "Deal with it."

"I'll do better than that," Sirius said, smiling seductively. He leaned in, close...

"Oy, you randy bloody buggers! We don't all want to see you slobbering on each other!"

Sirius' head snapped around. Remus hung his and groaned. "SLOBBER?!"

Remus quickly extricated himself as Sirius flew to his feet to launch a furious tirade at James, who had just come into the common room with Claudia and Peter. As he did so, he caught sight of his bright pink, and very smudged, toes, and, blushing, unobtrusively excused himself and headed up the stairs, retrieving his book enroute.

"Where's Remus going?" he heard James question behind him.

"Remus is going?" Sirius bleated. Remus heard heavy footfalls behind him as he mounted the stairs, and as he went through the dormitory doorway, Sirius' arm came around his waist and the older boy dragged him to the bed. "Let's give them something to complain about," Sirius said with a grin. "Show your love..."

Remus happily acquiesced, casting a silencing charm before they settled into their new role as lovers.

* * *

A/N: I know this chapter is rather repetitive and overly slushy, but I like it. I hope you all have too! Thanks. :)


	11. Heroes

A/N: Sorry! This should have been up yesterday, but I know you won't mind. Thank you once again to my dear **Ravenna Reckless** for the wonderful review! It really pleases me to know at least someone enjoys the story.

I've realised that I've been forgetting to mention when each chapter is set, so for that I apologise as it has possibly caused some confusion. This chapter is set in the summer between sixth and seventh years. Originally this chapter was going to be TVC-15 but my muse deserted me and I got stuck on it, so "Heroes" it is! Inspiration taken from Mr. Bowie's 1977 album of the same name.

Additional: How awesome is it that Bowie has released a new album! It was released here yesterday but I'm in the country and haven't had a chance to get a copy yet. Lovin' the new songs off it though! Perhaps I'll have to do the sequel to this story as "Where Are We Now"...

Disclaimer: Ah, whatever I said last time. :)

* * *

"Heroes"

"Come swimming, Remus!"

Sirius always wished Remus would swim with the other Marauders. It never seemed right when they visited Brighton over summer – Remus would stay only two weeks instead of four, like the others, and he would never wade any deeper than his knees.

They understood why, of course, Remus wouldn't stay longer, but it didn't seem fair to Sirius, and he always wished Remus would swim, like dolphins can swim. Or even just doggy paddle, as Sirius himself was quite fond of doing.

"I'm fine," Remus would always reply.

One summer, between six and seventh year, the four boys were strewn on the beach, sunning themselves, James finally asked the question they had all long wondered. "Is it that you can't swim, Rem?"

"I can. I choose not to. In public."

"Why would you choose not to swim?!" Peter sounded astounded.

Remus shrugged. "Reasons."

"Not good enough," Sirius declared, and grabbed Remus by the hand, fully intending to drag him into the water. He strained as he pulled, and got nowhere. Remus sat, impervious, immovable.

"Sirius, just stop." James said, rolling his eyes, "You're embarrassing yourself. Remie-pie, you don't have to swim if you don't want to. We'd just like you to join us."

"You might not say that if I did swim with you."

"Well, let us decide. Come in with us, just for the buoy race."

"I said _no_."

It took two days of constant nagging, but eventually the Marauders wore Remus down with their whining insistence. He didn't even get a respite while sleeping, as Sirius lay beside him in bed and whispered 'come swimming' repeatedly.

"Remember," Remus said hostilely, as they prepared to swim, "you lot wanted this."

"Course we remember," James said, grinning and squinting myopically at Remus as he put his glasses down on his beach towel. "Take your shirt off Remus, no one's around to see your Bite."

Remus scowled, and yanked his t-shirt off aggressively. Sirius came over and wrapped his arms around Remus, chastely pressing his lips to the stark white scar on Remus' shoulder. "You don't have to come swimming if you really don't want to," he said softly.

"No," Remus snapped, "I've said I will and so I shall."

It soon became clear why Remus didn't wish to swim with them. He won the buoy race in less than half the time that James, the most athletic of them, could manage and he had a nasty habit of being distracted by passing fish. It was very clear that when in water Remus could not effectively hide what he was. He plainly stood out as being super-human. It was the same reason, Sirius belatedly remembered, that Remus refused to play sports. If they ever played physical games Remus was on a team of his own against the three others and always won.

Sirius swam over to his lover, grinning, and splashed at him. Remus frowned and splashed back and Sirius could see the effort in his tight-strung muscles as he tried to prevent causing a torrent of water from waving up into Sirius' face.

Sirius laughed and slid an arm around Remus' waist. "You look damn sexy, nazz," he growled, lowly, narrowing his eyes. "You look very good wet."

"Thank you," Remus said, through tightly clenched teeth.

"Why're you so upset?"

Remus huffed a breath out through his nose. "I don't know."

"You're a silly thing. So you swim awesomely, we should have expected that. It's good; puts Jim back in his place."

"You're awful."

"At least we got you in the water. Mhm, very good thing. Sexy."

"Hm." Remus looked unconvinced. "Only took you six whole years."

"Yes, well. Didn't wanna embarrass you. We all thought you couldn't swim."

"Clearly wrong."

"Clearly."

There was a pause, and Remus suddenly smiled. "Why can't I stay mad at you, puppy?" he said, wrapping his own arm around Sirius' wet body.

"My devilish good looks," Sirius replied, beaming. Remus slapped him playfully."Oh! Battery."

"Will you lot stop smooching and get over here? This is a boys' vacation, not a bloody romantic getaway!"

"Jim is always so down on our love, have you noticed?" Sirius questioned mildly, tickling his thumb across the small of Remus' back.

"It's only because he's not getting laid for a month."

"Yes, well, that might make me edgy, too," Sirius agreed.

"Well, an edgy Sirius is terrible! I'd better fix that up." Remus nudged Sirius to face him.

"Oh yes, I rather think you'd better..." Sirius said, grinning, leaning closer...

"OY! I SAID STOP!"

-l-

Remus was sipping idly from his wine glass – a wonderful vintage from Rowena's Glen. The Marauders had hired their usual beach house, one that, originally, was watched over by one of their parents when they went on holidays, but was now occupied by just the four of them. Remus' and Sirius' bedroom opened onto a balcony that overlooked the ocean. Remus was sitting out there, looking at nothing, thinking about nothing, just enjoying the view, and his wine.

Sirius came out onto the balcony. He had been watching Remus from the bedroom, while drying his hair carefully with a towel. He plaited it over one shoulder, and now, wrapped in a black silk gown, stepped out onto the wooden deck. The cool, evening sea air felt marvellous against his skin.

"You drink all the time," Sirius murmured, sitting down on the planks beside Remus.

"I do not," Remus countered casually. "You're just mean."

"M'not," Sirius said, pouting. He poked Remus in the foot. "You drink more than you used to."

"I'm older than I used to be," Remus said, taking another sip. "And it's not like I get drunk. Every night. Not like the weekends back in fifth year."

Sirius smirked, then chuckled. "We had some damn good nights, didn't we?"

"Most certainly. You want a glass?"

Sirius looked up at Remus. The younger boy was sitting in a wooden chair, and blinked down at him in his special calm way. "Yes," Sirius said, smiling. Remus smiled too.

The latter got up and went inside their bedroom, coming back shortly with a second glass of wine. He passed it to Sirius, and then sat beside him on the decking. "Are you wearing anything under that robe?"

Sirius took a swig from his glass and expressed approval. "No."

"Hm." Remus said. He drank.

Sirius reached over and took Remus' hand. The younger boy let him, squeezing tightly, just for a moment. Their twined hands settled in Sirius' lap, and they quietly enjoyed sitting together, watching as the sun slowly slipped away, the smell of the sea wafting past on the breeze. Coming through the open windows on the first storey, they could hear James and Peter singing as they cooked tea together: "_Ziggy really sang! Jammin' good with Weird and Gilly_..."

"Wish I could sing," Sirius muttered, tracing his thumb in a circle across Remus' hand.

"I wish you could too," Remus said, his tone almost sing-song in its teasing. Sirius opened his mouth to retaliate, but never had the chance; Remus' mouth covered his own in a soft kiss. Sirius felt his throat make a noise, but couldn't hear what it was, as his hand snaked around Remus' neck. His robe slipped open. Remus' cold hand tickled down his chest.

"Should we have sex out here?" Remus asked, breathily, sliding his lips away from Sirius' tantalisingly.

"Oh, honey, do you need to ask?"

"No." Remus said, "I just know you like hearing me say the words."

"What words?" Sirius asked distractedly, between kisses.

"Sex."

"Oh." Kiss. "Yes." Kiss.

Remus' hand slid across Sirius' chest again, pushing his robe a little wider. Sirius blindly put his wine glass down, and fumbled his hand under Remus' Iggy Pop t-shirt.

"_It's rea-dy!_"

Both boys paused. "Damn," Remus whispered against Sirius' lips.

"Ignore it," Sirius breathed back. "We'll only be ten minutes."

"How flattering," Remus muttered dryly.

"It is, actually," Sirius growled, seductively.

"C'mon, you lazy fuckers! We worked hard on this!"

Great, Sirius thought, first Peter, now James. James would not let up; they'd have to raincheck on the outdoor sex and go down to dinner.

They did. Sirius put boxers on first.

James and Peter were still singing as they set the table. They had cooked something fancy and Italian-looking that Sirius knew he had eaten before but couldn't pronounce the name of. He could speak French fluently, but had never learned Italian. He grabbed a piece of garlic bread.

"Will you still kiss me later?" he asked his boyfriend, grinning with the piece of bread jammed between his teeth.

Remus eyed him narrowly. "I dunno," the werewolf said slowly. "Aren't I allergic to garlic or something?"

"No mate," James said, walking past with glasses. "That's vampires."

"No getting around it now!" Sirius cried jubilantly, spitting crumbs.

"Too bad," Remus said wryly.

The boys sat down and ate together. Sirius tried to initiate a food fight, but apart from getting mushrooms in Peter's hair it came to nothing. After the meal, Remus cracked open a bottle of Firewhisky and Peter got out his deck of cards.

A sea draft was blowing in through the open doors as the boys settled themselves on the durable carpet in the lounge room. James dealt the cards, Remus poured the alcohol and Sirius passed around bars of chocolate. Peter put on some music, Brian Slade's latest album – the record he'd cut with Curt Wild. It was heavier, darker than his previous music, but the boys all liked it just the same.

"Can you believe it was just a month ago that we were seeing them on stage?" Sirius asked, his cheeks flushing. He could feel it.

"Ye-es," James said, rolling his eyes. "We _all_ remember it."

"Quite a night," Peter agreed more mildly.

Sirius glanced over at Remus, who hadn't said anything. The boy was leaning back on his hands, head tipped to the side, a glazed smile gracing his lips.

Sirius leaned over and slapped him in the shoulder. It felt like backhanding a stone wall. Remus glanced around slowly, his eyes glazed. He began to laugh. Sirius felt himself flush with rage. Remus laughed harder, reached across, and rumpled a hand across Sirius' freshly washed scalp. Sirius pouted.

The brunet noticed Peter and James exchange a glance but decided to ignore it, taking a dignified sip of his alcohol instead, and turning his back to Remus.

They played cards for a couple of hours. The sun had long since set when Sirius and Remus headed back up to their room. The bottle of wine was still sitting in the open balcony doorway. "Join me?" Remus asked, retrieving it.

"Sure." Sirius crossed the room and the boys sat together in the doorway, cross legged. "Can I ask you something?" he queried after a while.

"Sure, puppy."

"Do you have a thing for Curt Wild?"

Remus chuckled quietly. "We've had this discussion before, you know."

"I know. It's just... I dunno. Paranoia, I guess. You don't go all gooey over me like that."

"Would you like me to?"

"That's not the point here!" Sirius said, becoming irrationally frustrated. He grumpily swallowed the last of his wine and refilled both his and Remus' glasses. He drank again, unsure whether Remus' supreme calm was settling him or making him more irate.

"Sirius," Remus said, his tone very patient and slow. "You know that I am in love with you and no one else. Sure, Curt Wild holds some ... fascination for me. But it's nothing. I want it to be nothing."

Sirius had no idea why he was so insecure about the connection he saw between Remus and Curt Wild. There was something about it he found deeply unsettling. But Remus' words did provide some solace.

He sighed.

"Hey," Remus said. Sirius turned to face him. The younger boy was smiling kindly at him. "Don't I owe you a kiss?"

Sirius smiled himself, slowly. "Yes. I believe you do."

Remus closed the gap between them, pressing their lips tenderly together. Sirius returned the kiss, licking Remus' bottom lip gently. Remus bit his tongue.

Sirius jerked back sharply, cracking his head somewhat painfully against the doorframe. "Hey!"

"Oh, you love it," Remus said, a grin clear in his voice. "C'mere."

Sirius did, and Remus kissed him again, pulling him in and holding him close, one hand toying with the black robe wrapped around his body. "Are you trying to undress me?" Sirius asked, breathlessly.

"Absolutely. Gotta show you I love you, don't I?"

"Mm, please do."

-l-

The sun was glorious, Sirius thought, lying on his front under the full force of it. His forehead was rested on folded arms, and Remus was reading by his side. Peter and James had gone to buy ice creams and Sirius and Remus had taken advantage of their absence to hide in a deserted area of the beach and enjoy some alone time. Sirius knew the other pair wouldn't mind – they would have just eaten two ice creams each and gone swimming.

Sirius heard Remus yawn and turned his head to look at the werewolf. They shared a smile. "I thought nothing would drive them away," Remus murmured, dropping himself back onto his elbows and meeting Sirius' gaze more levelly.

"We beat them," Sirius agreed lazily, reaching around and pulling his hair off his neck. The black strands felt terribly hot.

"They got the better end of the deal," Remus replied. "I really could enjoy an ice cream right around now."

"Whattya mean, better end of the deal? What could be better than spending time alone with me?"

"Well, when you put it like that..." Remus smiled. The younger boy reached out a hand and touched Sirius' face. Sirius felt his lips curl into a smile.

"Are you going to kiss me now?"

"Depends," Remus said, smiling coyly, and taking his hand back. "What will I get if I do?"

"Hmm. Well, what do you want?"

Remus just kept smiling, leaned forward gradually, and kissed him. Sirius was disappointed that Remus didn't touch him again, but that was okay ... the feel of Remus' soft lips firmly pressed against his own, and that clever tongue finding his, was enough for Sirius to unwrap his own arms and close the distance between them.

Sirius wasn't sure how much time passed, but he knew that enough had passed for him to want to rip Remus' board shorts off. He never got the opportunity, though, for they were suddenly very rudely interrupted.

"BANG BANG! You're dead!"

"I'm not!"

"BANG! You're dead too!"

Sirius and Remus both jerked their heads up sharply. Sirius' forehead connected, hard, with Remus' chin, but he didn't have time to do more than rub his bruise, as two children were standing above them, toy guns pointed at them both.

"Uh," Sirius said inarticulately.

"Hello," Remus said with his commendable calm. Only his bright cheeks and ruddy lips gave away his discomposure.

"I killed you!" cried the little boy. His red curls were windswept, sticking up every which way. He had a sticky face and sand glued all the way up his legs. A little girl stood beside him, her brown hair wet and straggly, gun held uncertainly, finger in her mouth.

"You did well," Remus said.

"What were you doing?" the little girl asked with some timidity.

"What do you think?" Sirius grumbled, brushing sand off his bare chest. Remus thumped him.

"Just-" Remus started to speak, but was cut off by the little boy.

"BANG BANG! I killed you! See, bullets flying all over, above your heads and everywhere!"

"Very good," Remus said, and now Sirius could see he was losing his seemingly infinite patience. There was a grumble in his voice, so well controlled that Sirius didn't think anyone else would be able to perceive it.

"Johnny! Samantha! What're you up to now?" a man came jogging across the sand to stand beside the two children, further interrupting the Marauders' sanctuary. The man stopped short when he saw them, his shaggy red and grey moustache twitching suspiciously. His eyes narrowed.

"I killed these two! Shot them!"

"Good work, John, my boy. But you should identify a person as enemy or friend before you open fire."

"They were kissing," the girl said in a bewildered hiss.

The man's lips tightened still further, and his eyes, so warm when looking at his children, became icy cold. "I see." He said. Sirius shivered at the chill in his voice, and shared a worried glance with Remus. "Run along now, you two. Your mother wants you. Go."

The two children ran off cheerfully, shooting at each other and screaming. The man waited until they were well beyond ear shot before speaking again.

"Stand up."

They did. Both boys gave a little unconscious canine shake. Sand scattered off them. Sirius looked up and met the man's eyes. He stood above them on a sandy rise, which the boys had specifically taken advantage of when they went into hiding.

"You ... _queers_ ... aren't welcome here," the man spoke in a threatening growl. "This is a family beach and your disgusting ... actions ... are not allowed. You filthy animals should be thrown in prison and left to _rot_. You should be _hanged_. You are abominable, _shameful_, bleeding _woofters_." The man's nose curled and his breathing was heavy. His hands curled into well-muscled fists.

Sirius couldn't move. He knew he was trembling and berated himself. His mouth was hanging open and he knew that must be unattractive.

From the corner of his eye, Sirius saw Remus draw himself up to his full and considerable height. There was a sharp angle to the boy's neck that Sirius recognised as aggression. "The shame is on your side," Remus said, his voice low, venomous and barely restrained. The man on the dune took an involuntary step backward. "Your intolerance is hideous. We'll go, but only because we don't want to share our area of the beach with muggle-Slytherins like you. Come along, Sirius."

Remus took his hand, lacing their fingers together, and walked off slowly. When they had rounded a corner, Remus sniffed the air. "We're safe from him, c'mon."

They ran, along the beach, only stopping when they reached an old stone lookout. It stood seven feet high, and both boys leaned against it, catching their breath.

"That was horrible," Sirius said, looking sideways at Remus.

"Mm. I suppose it's something we will have to get used to. Haters aren't going away just because the world is becoming more accepting."

"It's not fair."

"I suppose we could hide. Or lie. It might be safer."

"That's not fair either."

"Sometimes," Remus said very softly, "life isn't fair."

Sirius turned to him, embarrassed to feel tears welling in his eyes. He hurriedly blinked them away and wrapped Remus in a warm hug. "Oh, nazz. Sorry."

"Not your fault," Remus replied, and his voice was muffled against Sirius' shoulder.

"I love you, you know," Sirius responded, squeezing tighter.

"I know. Love you too."

"You'd better," Sirius said, leaning back with a cheeky grin. He kissed his boyfriend quickly.

"I do. Both a blessing and a curse, or so it would seem."

"Mostly blessing, Remus."

Remus smiled in reply.

The stood quietly by the stone wall for a while. Somewhat embarrassed, Sirius said quietly, "You're a bit of a hero, Remus."

"Oh, I shouldn't think so," Remus said with sincere modesty. "You are silly sometimes."

"I'm serious," Sirius said in an even quieter voice. Then, far louder, when Remus opened his mouth to speak with a sly look in his eye, "DON'T!"

"Sorry," Remus said, despite not having made the loathed joke. Sirius knew he wasn't sorry in the least.

"Anyway," Sirius continued, poking Remus in the ribs. "I mean it. You really stood up there. I just flopped about like a stunned trout with my mouth open."

"Anytime, love," Remus replied, finally being serious himself, despite the twist in his smile that had appeared with Sirius' self-description. His arm slid companionably around Sirius' shoulders.

Sirius glanced around the beach. It was deserted for as far as he could see. "Nobody's around," he said. "Wanna go skinny dipping?"

Remus looked at him, mildly surprised, but still with that quirky smile. "Okay."

Sirius blinked. "Really?"

"Sure. It's not like I've never done it before."

"You have? You've been skinny dipping, but until a few days ago you wouldn't come swimming with us!"

"That's right."

"I think you're lying. You never went skinny dipping."

"Okay. I'm not going to argue the point with you."

Sirius poked him again and stuck out his tongue. "You're no fun, are you?"

"I never claimed to be," Remus said, sounding somewhat affronted, but his eyes were smiling.

Sirius smiled back, somewhat cheekily, then ran towards the surf, haphazardly tugging off his swim shorts. With one final glance around, he transformed into his animagus form and plunged into the waves, barking happily.

Remus wasn't far behind him, also naked, splashing into the water and over to him. Sirius found a foothold in the water and wagged his tail ecstatically when Remus came over and scratched him affectionately behind the ears.

"You know, I think it's cheating to go skinny dipping in dog form. And stop panting on me, your breath smells awfully."

Sirius transfigured back. "Spoil sport. I'll have you know you don't smell the greatest as a wolf either."

"I can hardly help that," Remus said, and this time he was truly angered by the comment. Sirius could tell and he instantly regretted his snide comment. He apologised and wrapped his arms tightly around Remus.

"Come on," Remus said, relaxing after a moment. "I'll race you to the jetty."

"You'll win!"

"Then you'd better start swimming."

"Some hero you've turned out to be!" Sirius said, grinning. "I take it back."

Remus shrugged. "You're my hero, Sirius."

Sirius gave Remus one more squeeze and prepared to race him. "Then we're both heroes."

* * *

A/N: So yes, for those paying attention at the beginning, there will be a sequel to this story - in true Fairy Boys style, naturally. Thank you again to **Ravenna Reckless**, I hope you will look forward to that!

Thanks all. :)


	12. Fashion

A/N: Woot! Only ten days and I'm updating! Expect quicker updates - there are only three chapters left in this fic, and I want to get them all up before I go overseas in May. Another shoutout to **Ravenna Reckless**, thank you thank you thank you!

Okay, so this chapter picks up where chapter four (I think...) 'Oh! You Pretty Things' left off. It is inspired, heavily, by 'Fashion' from Bowie's 1980 album _Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)_. Hope you can follow it after such a large gap from the other chapter. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Same as ever.

* * *

Fashion

Sirius turned to the left, dragging Remus' behind him.

"Sirius, the shop isn't going anywhere. Must we be in such a hurry."

"We must. C'mon Remus, I know it isn't your favourite thing in the world, but I just want a new pair of jeans."

"Every time you say you want a new pair of jeans you end up making _me_ have another pair of leather trousers. Which are not comfortable."

"Why do you keep wearing them when we go out then?"

"Shut up."

"And anyway, that is totally untrue. You only have three pairs of leather trousers, and you know I stole the black pair anyway."

"Yes, and they were my favourites."

Sirius chuckled. "That's why I took them, they feel like wearing you. Anyway, I knew you liked the leather really."

"Hm." Remus threw Sirius a filthy, and mildly disturbed, look. "I prefer denim."

"You're just as much a fashionista as I am!" Sirius crowed, ignoring his boyfriend.

"Don't say such things."

"Fuck!" Sirius suddenly jumped violently backwards, slamming into Remus and nearly toppling him to the ground. A group of young witches and wizards rushed past them in a blur of torn black robes and brightly coloured hair. "What on earth...?"

"They were trying to punish you for accusing me of being concerned with fashion," Remus muttered wryly.

"Did you _see_ them? What a freak out!"

"I saw them," Remus replied. "Not too sure they saw us. Though you'd think they would have..." Remus gestured to the clothes they were wearing. Remus himself had on a tie-die t-shirt and red denim flares, while Sirius was wearing purple satin wide-legs with a white shirt, which was skin tight around d the waist and billowed wide and open at the chest. His hair was tied back with an orange ribbon; Remus' hair hung loose and curly about his shoulders.

"I live for attention!" Sirius said dramatically, grabbing Remus by his rock-hard bicep.

"I know," Remus said, smiling at him indulgently. "I think your parents know too."

Sirius smiled kindly through his sub-manic happiness. "They are marvellous people, aren't they? They adore you."

"I adore them," Remus said. Sirius could see the younger man appreciated the sentiment by the change in his smile. "Lunch with them is always a treat."

"Yes, it is," Sirius agreed, remembering how happy his parents had been to see them both for lunch. It had been a long time since Sirius had spent any amount of time with them, and he felt a little guilty about his childish resistance to get up that morning. In his defence, Sirius considered, he had been awoken in the middle of the night by Remus' breaking that damnable water glass.

They continued on to the store Sirius wanted to visit. It was busy, but not so busy Sirius couldn't happily rummage through the sections he wanted to. Remus was tapping his foot in the aisle, keeping his head down.

"Moony! You should totally wear this, it's far out!"

"No thanks, pup."

"Moony-Moon, I'm serious!"

"I kn-"

"DON'T!"

Remus smirked at him and Sirius pouted in response. "Sorry," the werewolf said, not sounding at all sorry. Sirius threw the shirt he had found at Remus' head. Remus pulled it off violently.

"Careful. You tear it and you'll have to buy it."

It was a lovely shirt, at least in Sirius' opinion. It was silk – Sirius' favourite fabric on Remus – and superbly close-fitted. The sleeves were short and it was red and purple, with buttons exposing various parts of the thorax and midriff.

Remus was looking it over with a critical eye. "If I agree to get a new shirt, can I forgo the leather flares?"

"Deal," Sirius said, grinning and turning back to his rack of clothing. His concentration didn't last long – through the shop window he suddenly saw the group of strange children that had passed them both only minutes earlier. They had congregated outside the shop, many of them smoking cigarettes. Some wore, instead of the tattered robes Sirius had already noticed, black denim blazers covered in heavy chains, with the words 'Goon Squad' embellished on the back.

Sirius took the group in, utterly confused. There was a girl with her head completely shaved, another whose hair was short and choppy, half green and half orange. One boy had the hair in the centre of his head bleached and spiked up stiffly. Their clothes were even more bamboozling – good quality, though narrow-legged, jeans, cut all over ... Doc Martens worn with laddered stockings and lacy skirts. One girl looked to be covered in blood and there was a tall boy with razor blades hanging from his pierced ears.

"Remus... what on earth are they?"

Remus looked up slowly from the shirt he was still inspecting. He carefully studied the group and then shrugged indifferently. "Dunno, Padfoot."

"They look a bit frightening, really," Sirius said, still squinting at them in utter confusion, tipping his head to the side.

The corner of Remus' mouth quirked up almost imperceptibly but he made no reply.

As Sirius watched, the group moved into a curved line. They started bobbing and turning in time to each other. He could see mouths moving, and thought perhaps the group was singing. They turned to the left ... then to the right.

"What are they doing?" Sirius asked.

"Looks like a dance," Remus said, stepping closer to him.

"Strange dance. They look tense."

Remus chuckled low in his throat. "Maybe it's a brand new _fashion_..." Sirius caught the sly, side-on glance Remus threw him.

"Don't be ridiculous," Sirius said haughtily, drawing himself up. "_That_ is not fashion. They can keep it out there."

After a moment the odd dance finished and Sirius became rather flustered as a small group of the children turned and entered the store. Remus snickered at him again, but ducked with him behind the rack of clothing when Sirius beckoned.

"Well," Sirius hissed, "at least they're all wearing eyeliner."

"Feel tha funk," one of the girls was saying in a heavily affected way. Her head was still bobbing, turning left to right.

"Damn, that funk is bitchin', to the max."

"Boss, I dig it, you know."

"Hey, confab on these jeans..."

"I can't understand what they're saying!" Sirius cried in an exasperated whisper. Remus shook his head, which Sirius correctly interpreted to mean that Remus couldn't understand them either. They watched as the group rummaged around the store, and left after shopping, saying, "I'll catch ya on the flipside at the crib!" as the group split into two at the door. Within moments, all of the kids had vanished, in one direction or another.

"That talk makes no sense. It's not clear at all! Bet those kids all come from bad homes..." Sirius grumbled as he extracted himself from the rack of clothing. "Loud and tasteless. Don't wanna hear it ever again. _Far out_."

Remus sighed, and went back to inspecting the shirt Sirius wanted him to buy. "Well, Padfoot, the world is changing whether we like it or not. Bowie may still be making awesome music, but that music is changing. Just like those weird fashions... It's all getting darker."

"I'll resist it. I can still be glam and be fashionable, even if it isn't trendy."

"Sounds good to me," Remus said. Sirius wasn't sure if the younger boy was sincere or just agreeing to try and get out of the store sooner. Shopping for clothes had never been one of Remus' favourite pastimes. Sirius would have to take him into a bookstore or a chocolate shop to make it up to him. Luckily, he would enjoy either of those, himself, also.

After Sirius had found himself some new flares, out of pure curiosity he wandered across to the section, which was largely black, that the strange group of teenagers had centred about. "My goodness..." he said, rather shocked, but also amused. "Remus look at this!"

Remus came over to him, the silk shirt folded tidily under his arm. Sirius excitedly showed the werewolf the strange assortment of accessories he had discovered – broken handcuffs, leather bracelets held together with safety pins, huge spiked rings, but best of all...

A dog collar. A dog collar made to fit a man. It was leather, black, with small, flat silver studs all around it. It clasped at the nape with a rather chunky buckle, of which Sirius did not entirely approve, but otherwise ... he had to admit he was smitten with the object. He might have found the rest of the ... _fashion_ ... loathsome, but the dog collar tugged at his very core. He knew he had to buy it. He looked up apprehensively for Remus' opinion.

The younger man was looking at him in a manner suggesting mildly amused understanding. "Buy it," he said quietly.

Sirius glanced sharply at him, and noticed a slight pink flush on his boyfriend's cheeks. "You want me to?" he queried.

"Absolutely. It's perfect for you," Remus replied, smiling gently.

Sirius narrowed his eyes. "You're just saying that because Curt Wild wears one."

"Oh don't be ridiculous," Remus said more briskly, taking Sirius by the arm before he could react and leading him to the check out. "Now just hurry up about it, Padfoot, so we can get out of here."

Sirius grinned good-naturedly, brushing off his oft recurring jealousy with ease. Really, Sirius' jealousy concerning Curt Wild had become something of a joke between them. He couldn't really begrudge Remus a celebrity crush – Sirius himself had always harboured a tender spot for David Bowie.

They paid for their new items, and left the store. There was no trace of the unusual young witches and wizards in their apparently fashionable attire, and Sirius breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, then, nazz. What now?"

"I think you owe me a trip to the bookstore," Remus replied, a smile spreading happily across his face. He brushed his long hair out of his eyes with one hand and looked at Sirius.

"Sounds fine," Sirius replied, slipping one arm through Remus' and proceeded to lead the way to Flourish and Blotts. "And then home?"

"Mm."

"Oh good." Sirius replied, smiling. "You owe me, remember."

* * *

A/N: I know it's short, but all of the day-in-the-life chapters have been. I hope you've still enjoyed it. :) Thanks!


	13. John, I'm Only Dancing

A/N: Well, a thousand apologies! I had the best of intentions and could give a number of legitimate excuses, but the fact remains this chapter is late and I was not able to finish the story in double-time. Also, I'm apologising in advance as there will be another delay now as I am going overseas. Rest assured the story will be finished when I return home, which is two remaining chapters and another tie-in story.

Thank you thank you thank you to my wonderful **Ravenna Reckless**_**. **_If not for your loyal reviewing this story would have been left to rot.

Now then, this chapter sort of wrote itself and went way off topic, so most of it is not inspired by Bowie's '72 single 'John, I'm Only Dancing'. But you know, part of it is. :) Also, this chapter is less tribute to _Fairy Boys_ than it is _Shoebox Project_. But that's cool, I reckon.

Disclaimer: Uh, whatever I've said before...

Warning: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SPOILERS TO THE MOVIE _VELVET GOLDMINE_. Also there are drug and sexual references and I stress I do not condone or encourage unhealthy sexual behaviour or illegal drug taking of any kind.

Right, sorry, I'm all done now.

* * *

John, I'm Only Dancing

Remus woke up with a start. Slowly, he raised his head from his desk and glanced around. Sirius was sitting to his right, at the next desk, and gave him a brief smile and a thumbs up when he noticed he, Remus, was awake. Remus sighed a silent sigh of relief, realising that his nap had gone unnoticed by Professor Binns.

Blinking his bleary eyes in the vague sunlight coming through the window, Remus slowly straightened himself up in his chair and glanced around. He wasn't the only student in a stupor, at least, though no one else had actually fallen asleep. James was at the back of the class, playing catch with his stolen Snitch. Lily was doodling in her textbook at the desk in front of Sirius. Across the room, Claudia was buffing her (for once, unpainted) nails and in the front row Peter was leaning back in his chair, hands folded behind his head.

Sirius pulled his hair back and off his neck and then tossed a scrap of parchment across to Remus with a cheery grin. The werewolf yawned widely, not bothering to try and hide it, and lifted the piece of parchment. Sirius had thrown him a note.

_You look quite marvellous when you sleep. Very eatable_, it read. Remus rubbed his eyes and suppressed a groan. _Pervert_, he scrawled on the back of the note and then lobbed the shred of parchment back.

Sirius was smiling chirpily as he scribbled a reply. Remus, resignedly, reached across the divide between their desks and Sirius passed the note into his hand. He read it – _For you, nazz, I can be_. Remus rolled his eyes and yawned again. He scratched his ear and tried to ignore the ridiculous flirty looks Sirius was sending his way. It was wonderfully warm in the History of Magic classroom; Remus wanted to put his head down and sleep again.

Before he had the chance, though, another note landed on his desk. It came via Sirius, but was in Claudia's handwriting. Clearly, she had used a Banishment charm to pass it to their brunet friend, who had read it and then handed it on.

_Passing notes?_ (it read) _What about? Choosing outfits for the concert?_ And there was a smiley-face that somehow, strangely, looked hopeful. Sirius had replied already, _Done that a week ago, Clair._

Remus rolled his eyes and passed the note onto Lily without replying. He put his head back down after checking his watch – only a few minutes left of the class. No point trying to pay attention now. Next week would be exams, so he really should be paying attention. Instead, he felt his eyes flutter shut... the sun was beautifully warm on his back... and then James was shaking him roughly by the shoulder. Remus grouchily raised his head and James kissed his cheek, sloppily, in return. "C'mon," the latter said with a chipper grin, "food time."

Remus dragged himself out of his seat and followed his friends out of the emptying classroom. He felt heavy and lethargic, the full moon having been only two nights before. He was careful to keep the bandages on his arms hidden by a long-sleeved t-shirt beneath his robes, despite the warm weather. It wouldn't be necessary tomorrow, in any case; his werewolf metabolism would have healed everything by then, though he knew from many years of experience that the bone deep weariness and persistent fatigue would last another couple of days yet.

The group shuffled into the Great Hall and took seats at the end of Gryffindor table. Remus zoned out, letting his attention drift, as Claudia and Lily started discussing fashion options for the concert they would all be attending at the beginning of July. It was less than two weeks away, now, only Friday and one week of exams stood between the Marauders and their warm, summer-time freedom.

Remus tuned back in, ears scanning for a reasonable conversation. No such luck; James was reading the _Evening Prophet_, which had just been delivered, and was announcing Quidditch scores to Peter, who was peering vaguely over James' arm, the girls still prattling away about fashion. Remus looked, instead, down at his plate to see that Sirius was loading it with potatoes for him. He speared one absently with a fork and bit into it. Sirius beamed at him.

"So," Remus said when James had finished perusing the sports pages and lowered the paper, "what's the plan for tonight, then, brothers?"

"Detention!" Sirius cried, not only cheerily, but triumphantly.

"Hm?" Remus asked vaguely. "When did that happen?"

"Were you sleeping in your Petrificus Parsley as well, Remus?" Sirius said, bouncing around in his seat and grinning. "Professor Sprig gave Jimmy and me detention for setting a Venomous Tentacula from greenhouse three on Snivellus."

Peter was sniggering; James was grinning wickedly, his hazel eyes glittering. Sirius continued to grin, ear to ear, tipping his head from side to side.

"The best part was," James said, trying not laugh before he got the words out, "that he fell right into the table of Bubotubers, and squished all their pus all over himself!"

The four Marauders all began to roar with laughter, Remus included, and he turned to look across at the Slytherin table. Snape was sitting with his group of very Slytherin-ish friends, covered still in angry red welts and blisters, though Remus knew they must have been excruciatingly worse before. He couldn't think how he'd missed all that excitement.

"Don't worry, Remus," James said comfortably, slicing his pumpkin, "As a prefect you're probably best not knowing these things." James fixed him with another maniacal grin.

Remus smiled in his calm way, the way he knew infuriated his friends – they were never able to decipher the thoughts his calm smiles hid. "Much as I am flattered by your obviously sincere concern, Jim-bo," Remus replied, calmly as his smile, "you just wait to see what I'm working on."

"Hey?" James said excitedly, before creasing his face into a frown. "Don't call me Jim-bo."

Sirius stopped bouncing around and leaned in. The boys all put their heads together and started whispering, but Remus wouldn't give away his plan, insisting that it was not ready yet. "I've got to try a couple more little things first – I'll work on them tonight and run them by you if your detention doesn't run too late."

"Ah, it won't," James said. "Sprig's not too heavy handed about detentions. We'll probably just have to clean up the Bubotubers."

After the meal, Sirius and James headed out towards the greenhouses, while Remus, Peter, Claudia and Lily made their way back up to Gryffindor tower. The girls were discussing belly-baring clothes now. Peter joined them engagingly, giving a male perspective on the fashion to consider as they attempted to make decisions regarding what to buy for the upcoming concert.

"Dunno why you're bothering though," Peter said, flashing his sharp teeth in a grin and wrapping an arm around Claudia's shoulders, giving her a squeeze. "You're both gonna get laid no matter what you wear."

"Peter!" Lily said, sounding aghast. She flushed a red so dark it became difficult to tell where her face ended and her hair started. Remus and Claudia were laughing, though.

"I dunno why you need new clothes," Remus said. "I'll dig something out of my wardrobe and have done with it."

"Yes, well, you are male," Claudia said, as if that simple biological fact wholly explained his indifference. To be fair, Remus had to admit that it probably did.

He spent that evening finishing up homework and going over his Charms notes in readiness for his exam. It was after nine when he put away his schoolwork and got out a tatty shred of parchment, on which was scrawled plans and ideas for making Severus Snape's life difficult. From his bag he took out a small marble. Peter was looking at him curiously over his game of Clock. The girls were sitting at a table across the common room, with some other Gryffindor girls, doing girly things Remus preferred, he suspected, to be ignorant of. He had his record player next to his chair, happily playing Mozart at a low volume.

At about half past nine the portrait hole burst open and James and Sirius tumbled in, wearing identical naughty smiles and with muddy stains on their hands.

"Ah, detention," James said fondly as he threw himself into his favourite armchair. "I'd go crazy if I couldn't go."

"Moony!" Sirius cried, hurdling across the back of the couch and landing half on Remus. "Did you miss me?"

"Not at all, Padfoot," Remus replied, distractedly, trying to save his wand, marble and parchment from Sirius' flailing legs.

"Harsh," Sirius said brightly, sliding agilely off the couch again and grasping Remus' hand. "Pete, change that record would you?" Peter obliged and soon David Bowie was filling the room with his unique sound. Peter turned the volume up. "Come and dance Moony-Moony-kins," Sirius said, giving another heavy tug on Remus' hands.

Remus, rolling his eyes, stood up, gave Sirius a playful push and then allowed Sirius to twirl him madly about the room. In fact, he even enjoyed it and before too long both boys were enthusiastically spiralling wildly and dangerously around the room, holding each other tightly and laughing like mad-things. Remus always liked dancing with Sirius, that crazy spontaneous activity that had always allowed for much physical contact. Lovely.

Sirius dipped Remus debonairly, so low that he felt his hair brush the ground. He felt slightly dizzy as he was again hauled quickly upright and Sirius span him under one arm, and he was still laughing as he heard James bellow over the top of the record, "Remus, what the hell is this marble doing?!"

Remus turned his head. Sirius did too, and must have been surprised by what he saw, for he suddenly let go of Remus, who would have fallen on the floor if not for his werewolf reflexes adjusting his body automatically and saving him that spectacular indignity.

The marble in question was zooming around James' head, relentlessly following him no matter which way he turned, and occasionally rapping him hard on the skull.

"Oh good, it works then," Remus said blankly, abandoning Sirius by the House notice board and rejoining James and Peter by the fire. Behind him, a few students moved back to the seats they had (wisely) abandoned during Remus' and Sirius' wild waltz.

"In what way, exactly, _works_?" James asked loudly, sounding both intrigued and annoyed.

"Well," Remus said, snatching the marble out of the air and tapping it smartly with his wand, "it's a part of the new charm I've been working on, like I said. I think it's ready to go," he finished happily, brushing his hands together. Then, with a crease appearing above his eyes, Remus asked, "How long since you washed your hair, James?"

James looked startled, then indignant. "A few days," he said sharply. "I've had Quidditch practice and detentions, not to mention the homework."

"Why're you practicing Quidditch when the Cup is over?" Peter asked curiously.

"I just am!" James snapped. "What is this, Pick on Potter Day?"

"No, no," Remus said, flopping back into his favourite corner of the couch and throwing his feet up. "I didn't mean anything James, it's just that," Remus lowered his voice and leaned towards his friends, who all did likewise, "I've charmed this marble to stalk whoever has the greasiest hair in a room. Now that I know the charm works, I intend to use it on a few dungbombs and unleash them on Snape."

The other Marauders all roared with appreciative laughter, gaining some suspicious looks – everyone in Gryffindor tower knew that Marauder laughter was something to be apprehensive about.

Sirius beamed at him. "Hey, Remus, you're smarter than those rumours say."

"Yes, I am."

Sirius nodded decidedly, "Then I'll stop spreading them."

Remus thumped him.

They didn't get a chance to test out the new charm until the final day of term. They managed to bewitch twelve dungbombs and unleashed them on Snape at breakfast time, each projectile delayed so that they hovered along behind him and all struck at different times. By the time the students boarded the Hogwarts Express there were only two dungbombs still stalking Snape, and the Marauders thoroughly enjoyed watching as the greasy boy wandered the length of the train looking for an empty compartment – it seemed he smelled so rotten nobody would allow him into theirs.

At Kings Cross they went their separate ways – saying farewells as everybody's parents arrived to collect them. They would all be meeting up again at Sirius' house in a fortnight, but even so there were farewell hugs and kisses as the group split up. Summer holidays were a long break, and even though they appreciated the time alone at home, it was difficult to break the routines. Especially the prank-pulling parts of the routines.

Sirius and Remus left Kings Cross together, going and buying hot chocolates before Sirius walked Remus to the Underground, a repeat of their farewell at Christmastime.

"I'll see you in ten days," Remus said in a tone significantly brighter than he felt and hugging Sirius as they said goodbye.

"Enjoy Spain," Sirius replied, hugging back and not hiding his displeasure with anywhere near Remus' calm ability. "I'll write you. Mercury'll be glad of the work."

"Okay," Remus said. It was hardly a substantial answer. His train pulled up. Remus quickly gave Sirius one last squeeze, kissed him, and pulled away, saying goodbye and hopping onto the train. He waved to Sirius through the window, and then he was gone.

Remus' parents were taking him to Spain that Summer for two reasons – one, they felt proud of his accomplishments at school and wanted to reward him, and two, because they had recently learned of a foreign wizard who studied werewolves, who they hoped would have some knowledge on helping to make Remus' transformations more manageable. They had long ago given up hope of a cure for the Bite – even if there had been one, they had been assured many years ago that Remus had been a werewolf far too long to get any benefit from it.

He would return just in time for the concert they would all be attending that summer, and hoped his parents and Sirius' would agree to let Remus stay at the Black's for the days in between his holiday and the concert.

As the train sped him across London, Remus thought that he was grateful to have Sirius waiting for him. He was looking forward to the letter far more than the holiday.

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_Dear_ _Loony Loopy Lupin,_

_I hope this letter finds you well and that steamy Spain is keeping you as entertained as you know I would have done (oho, oh yes!), were you here to entertain, that is._

_London seems incredibly dull these past few days, without you around. I don't know how I ever managed it all those years before Christmas, last. Still, Regulus has asked for help with his homework and while being a simply marvellous role model of a brother and helping him, I have managed to get all my own homework finished as well. Are you proud of my new-found conscientiousness? You are an influence on me to be sure, though I've yet to decide whether your influence is good or bad. It certainly mustn't be spread around that Sirius Black is wont to have random bouts of studiousness. NOT ON._

_I am eating chocolate as I write to you, Moony. Here, I will rub my fingers on the page – see that smudge? Does it smell chocolate-y? You are welcome!_

_I have been shopping yesterday, looking for an outfit for the concert. I have found something which I think you will approve of, and thought you would appreciate it even more that I have done it before you got here .Be proud: it took me less than four hours to find something marvellous this time around. And it is marvellous; I look very sexy in it._

_Oh, Moony, you're too kind. You see, I can tell what you are thinking as you read that sentence, and that is that I'm always sexy. So very kind. Oh, don't look that way! We both know it's true!_

_James came to visit this morning. His parents had to come into Diagon Alley and Prongs came to see me instead. He's been experimenting with new spells, and set one of my dogs on fire trying to show me. She wasn't hurt, but now part of her tail is crispy. Like crisps, but not as tasty anyway. Thank goodness for the _Aguamenti_ charm at least. James is eager to know how you're enjoying Spain, too._

_Will you be coming to see me when you get back, or are you going to wait until the concert? It would be nice to see you before everyone else gets here. My parents say it's okay, because they want to make me happy and also stop my constant moping and whining at them. Oh, and they, you know, like you for some reason I cannot possibly comprehend._

_Argh, Regulus is calling me. I suppose I did promise. I'll leave this letter here then, I know it's short but it's something. You'd better write me back!_

_Warm and fuzzies, Moony._

_Signed,_

_The most Handsome and Noble Padfoot_

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_Dear Your Royal Highness Padfoot,_

_I _wish_ you wouldn't call me 'Loony Loopy Lupin'. One reason, is that Peeves has picked up on it and has started singing it whenever he sees me. Another reason is that 'loony' is a little too close to the truth. I prefer not to advertise._

_Spain is fine, not much to report. Certainly nothing I want to put into a letter that may be accidentally read by anyone, anyway._

_Finished all your homework? My good friend, you must be extremely bored. I, of course, had all mine done before we left school. Well, not quite, thanks to you (yes, oho indeed!). But I finished it all on the first day of holidays and have spent my spare time reading books on the beach. I do so love the beach – our usual beach trip is still on of course? Not that I will be joining you until August. Never mind._

_Yes, that smudge does smell rather like chocolate. Shame really, that you didn't _send_ me some chocolate. They haven't been letting me have any – pat of the process, apparently. Rest assured, your favourite Moony is not so sweet without his favourite confection. Grr. See? And nothing would have made me happier than to break the rules here._

_Good geesh and Merlin's bollocks, did I really write that? That's _your_ influence on _me_. Also not sure if said influence is of a positive or negative sort. Hm._

_While I am pleased your girlish habit of shopping has been fulfilled in my absence, you are very wrong in thinking that my thoughts were of you being sexy. You see, this is such an obvious fact that I do not think it at all, but take it for absolute granted._

_Tell James hello if you see him again before I return. Why is he always trying to invent his own spells? Doesn't he remember what happened when he tried to develop that levitation charm? I know you and James are brilliant, but even though he may be top of the class in Charms, he really should stick to Transfiguration. Now, if he tried to _turn_ your dog into a fireball, he probably would have succeeded. Have you been trying to eat her tail? You sick and perverted puppy, not so certain I will kiss you again knowing now as I do that your mouth has been so close to a rather unhygienic area of dog. Well, apart from your own doggly bits, I suppose._

_Shut up. It's not funny at all._

_My parents have agreed to let me come before the concert, so I will be coming on the twelfth. NO that does not give us a day to go shopping. I have chosen an outfit for the concert, or rather, Claudia has chosen one for me, and I agree that it will suffice. So we will have two days and nights all to ourselves. I can't stress enough how hard I had to fight my folks to let me come earlier – they are already unhappy that I will be coming to the beach with you for two weeks. They finally agreed as a payment for bringing me to Spain – but that I'll tell you about when I see you._

_Oh, they have reminded me to ask if your parents would like to have lunch with them on the twelfth – they will bring me over to yours and meet your parents then. Seems strange and unnatural that our parentals should want to mingle. Very uncool._

_Well, I've written you back, and yes you ought to keep your promises, Padfoot, because you made me one once, and I mean to make you keep it. Your fuzziness fills the chocolate-shaped whole Spain-Remus has had to endure, so thank you._

_A hearty scratch behind the ear,_

_Moony_

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The twelfth of June arrived and the sunny late-morning saw Remus Lupin standing on the Black family doorstep. He rang the bell. It clanged noisily through the house and only a minute later the door was thrown open and Sirius' mother welcomed Remus warmly and greeted his parents.

"Sirius is out in the shed, dear," Mrs Black said, folding Remus tightly into a brief, warm hug. "No leaving the house while we're out, okay?"

Remus nodded, used a Banishment charm to send his pack onto the landing outside Sirius' room and said goodbye to his parents as the four adults headed out for lunch. He shook his head in vague disgust at the embarrassing antics of the parents then proceeded through the hallway and exited into the small yard.

Across the stretch of brittle grass, littered with sunbathing Labradors, was a small garden shed. Remus moved over to it and stepped into the open doorway.

The shed was magically enlarged, big enough, Remus thought, for five Hippogriffs to stand beak to tail. Except, of course, that it was taken up with other things – a wall covered in broomsticks, a bench of maintenance equipment. But the majority of the space was occupied by an enormous black motorbike, under which was Remus' boyfriend, draped carelessly across the sand-covered concrete floor and splattered, somehow attractively, with oil.

"Good look," Remus said from the doorway, as a hello. There was a muffled shriek, and then Sirius rolled into full and wonderful view.

"Moony!" Sirius cried, scrabbling to his feet. He rushed across the rough floor, and threw his head onto Remus' shoulder, wrapping his arms around Remus' body as the younger boy returned the hug, but Sirius did not touch him with his hands. As he stepped back, Remus could see why – those paws were covered with grease. Remus gently bumped their foreheads together, smiling.

"So, this is what you've been occupying yourself with while I've been away." Remus eyed the shed more closely; it bore signs of being mainly for Sirius' use. There were pictures of motorbikes covering one galvanised wall, and a lip balm perched on the corner of the bench. A row of old gumboots littered one corner, every pair in a different colour and size.

"Oh yes, keeps me plenty occupied, the old girl," Sirius said, patting the 'bike tenderly with the back of one grubby hand. "Just let me finish ... uh, what I'm doing and we'll go get some lunch."

"What are you doing?" Remus asked, mildly bemused, circling the 'bike with an appraising eye as Sirius climbed back under the hulking metal contraption. The answer Sirius gave was completely incomprehensible. Remus understood the meaning – something illegal. In less than five minutes, however, Sirius remerged, waving his wand absently to clean up his tools, smiling at Remus.

"Oh, that won't do," Sirius murmured distractedly, catching sight of his blackened hands. He pointed his wand at both hands, holding it tightly between his teeth, and muttered, "_Scourgify_."

"You know," Remus said conversationally, "you're quite lucky you're exceptional at magic. Because you could quite easily have cut yours hands off, muttering charms around a wand, like that."

"Stop, Remus, you'll give me ideas," Sirius replied with a grin and a roguish wink.

Remus looked sideways at his boyfriend. "Oh, I should hope so."

Sirius chuckled, slid an arm around Remus' waist and led him back to the house. The instant the hallway door closed behind them Sirius used that arm to pull Remus close, rammed him against the door and kissed him fiercely. Remus met the brunet's lips eagerly, moving their bodies to fit closer, more comfortably, and wrapped one hand tightly into Sirius' long hair.

Sirius made a strange, inarticulate noise at the back of his throat and pulled back, running a hand over his hair, throwing Remus a mock-reproving look as he attempted to smooth his locks again.

"Sook," Remus said affectionately, hand on Sirius' jaw. "What happened to lunch?"

"Fuck lunch," Sirius said. "Come upstairs."

Remus did, following Sirius up the stairs very willingly. Afterwards, they lay together, tangled and naked in Sirius' silk sheets. "I'm actually _quite_ hungry now," Remus said, trailing one finger idly across Sirius' bare chest. "Couldn't have waited, could you? Shall we get lunch?"

"Yes okay," Sirius said, but he made no effort to move, his hand curled into Remus' curls. "And we couldn't wait, no. My olds aren't coming home tonight, they're going to a show and I promised to babysit for my cousin."

"What?!"

"I know, I know, but it's my cousin. And her kid's not bad."

"Boy or girl?"

"Girl."

Remus grunted. "How old?"

"Three."

"Oh, by Merlin's grizzled beard! A three year old girl? That's gonna be hell."

Sirius gave his hair a sharp tug; Remus hid a wince. "She's not bad. Don't be rude about my family."

"Sorry, puppy," Remus said sincerely, and kissed Sirius gently on the cheek. "C'mon." Remus raised himself, with some amount of effort, from the bed and began to tug his flares on. "When does the kid arrive?"

"Not until later," Sirius said, and when Remus turned his head to look at him he found Sirius staring unashamedly at his naked body as he twisted his way into his jeans, with a content and admiring smile perched on his mouth.

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Remus was pleased to avoid questions about his trip to Spain for the entire evening, as Sirius wouldn't ask while his baby cousin was around.

She was an impudent little girl, but charming in her own way and, Remus had to admit, bearable, when she wasn't asking questions. Her hair changed from ultra-violet purple to a mousey brown within an hour of her arrival, though Remus was less surprised than this than he had been by the ultra-violet colour on a three year old to begin with.

"Dora's a metamorphmagus," Sirius said as he cooked tea for the three of them. Remus was entertaining the girl, playing Chinese checkers with her. The tiny coloured Chinamen were using their swords to vault over each other towards their safe zones.

"Yes, I realised that when her eyes changed colour on the doorstep," Remus replied, tapping the game board with his wand to make his red pieces move.

"Did they?" the girl, Nymphadora Tonks, asked, admittedly sweet in her babyish surprise. "I didn't mean for them to. Sometimes I can change it when I want to, but sometimes my looks change when I don't mean them to."

Sirius flicked his wand and three bowls of soup landed on the table, along with three glasses, one containing chocolate milk and the other two filled with Firewhisky.

"Sirius," Remus asked, raising his eyebrows as he flicked his own wand to help with setting the table. A plate of bread landed between the three soup bowls. "Sirius, should we be drinking when we're responsible for your cousin?"

"Sure," Sirius replied, sliding into his chair and pushing his fringe away from his eyes.

Remus shrugged, and took a sip, smiling wryly at the girl. She grinned back and pulled her bowl of soup greedily towards her.

After eating, Sirius joined them at the game. Remus noticed that Dora looked away, almost as if embarrassed, whenever he and Sirius touched or met each other's eyes, and that she beamed and flushed happily whenever he spoke to her.

"What's the deal with that kid?" Remus asked later that night when the two climbed into bed. Dora was sleeping in the next room so that they could hear her should she need them at any stage during the night, though Regulus had also returned home and was now sharing the babysitting duties with them.

"Dora?" Sirius laughed, "She's got a crush on you. Isn't that cute? I think I had a crush at that age too, on my neighbour's ... well, never mind."

"I think I want to hear that story," Remus said, grinning and reaching out a hand. "And I can think of one or two ways to convince you to tell me it."

"No," Sirius said, dropping into his most serious attitude, one that Remus saw very rarely. "You have a story to share, first, I think. Tell me about Spain."

Remus drew in a deep breath and lowered his hand. His smile was gone. He sat himself up; he had been reclining on the bed. "What do you want to know?" he asked, wincing himself at the rigid tone to his voice.

Sirius was eyeing him shrewdly, in a way that reminded Remus forcefully that they had been friends a lot longer than they had been lovers.

"Everything you're not planning on telling me," Sirius replied, putting down his hairbrush and sitting on the small chair next to the bedside. "Remus, I've known you a long time and I know _you_. Something about that trip has upset you."

Remus balanced an elbow on one knee and placed his chin in his hand, not meeting Sirius' gaze. "Spain was horrible," he said evenly, drawing on his calmest, most neutral tone of voice. "Simply dreadful. I want to forget about it. I haven't felt ashamed of being a werewolf for years, but ... this brought it all back."

Sirius drew the chair a little closer, but Remus was glad that he kept a safe distance between them.

"Spain itself was fine, of course, and my parents realised pretty quickly what a bad move it was to see this guy ... they made it up to me, they felt pretty horrid. Took me to the Sagrada Familia which was pretty great. But the warlock who wanted to study me ... that was hell on earth.

"There were six of us, I was the youngest. Three women, three men, nice and even. He made us all stand in our underwear so he could study similarities in our human physiology that could therefore be related to the Were Curse. And he gave us various potions and tested charms on us to see what we were resistant to and whether our DNA might help create new curses– he couldn't work it out, I'm glad to say. And he exposed us all to silver – that was terrible. But the worst part was ... was that ... he ... uh, he uh, tried to force us all to transform."

Remus still wasn't looking at Sirius, and despite his hesitancy he was aware that his voice was still remarkably calm – too calm, detached. Remus let a small, tense silence stretch out before sucking in a deep, shuddering breath.

"You can't imagine how terrible that was. I ... I can't explain it. We didn't really agree to it, none of us wanted it to happen. But he volleyed us with all these Transfiguration spells that he'd devised, and we couldn't resist them – we didn't know what was happening.

"Two of the others only partially transformed, and they looked like they'd been Splinched and spliced back together with wolf parts instead of their own. One, the oldest, a woman, just turned hairy all over. But the rest of us, we turned into strange hybrid creatures; still with our own minds, but like stretched, wolf-men, furry, with canine heads and long snouts and tails, but human-ish hands and standing upright.

"He put us back as we normally are – evidently – and thought the experiment had been a great learning curve. Turns out that werewolf magic becomes stronger and more resistant to wizard magic with the amount of years the person has been cursed. He's planning further research and is going to write a parchment for the International Ministry.

"That was on the fifth day of the programme, and my parents refused to let me go back for the last three. All the participants pulled out. We spent the last few days visiting sights and eating chocolate. That part was good. The rest ... not so much."

"Remus," Sirius whispered and slid from the chair to the bed and wrapped his arms around the younger boy. There was no need for any other words; there was comfort in that embrace that worked more than any words possibly could.

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"More bacon please!" Dora Tonks banged her fork on the table. Sirius loaded bacon onto her plate.

"You'd better eat it all," he warned.

"I always eat it. Always eat my meat," Dora grinned, her hair turning bacon-red and the iris of her eyes yellow so that they resembled, quite unnervingly, eggs.

"Sweet girl," Sirius said, turning away from her and twining his hand with Remus' again. Dora's parents would be coming to collect her later that morning and then Remus and Sirius had the rest of the day to themselves, and the next day, before the others arrived for the concert.

Those two days flashed past. They spent time in Diagon Alley, bought enormous chocolate ice creams at Fortescue's and had a butterbeer in the Leaky Cauldron before heading back into muggle London and going to the movies. The next day they spent mostly at Grimmauld Place, lounging in bed until almost midday and then reading in Sirius' sitting room. Regulus joined them, bringing a swarm of Labrador Retrievers and his History of Magic homework with him. Remus helped him with it. Luckily for Sirius' brother, Remus sleeping through History of Magic was a very unusual occurrence.

James was the first to arrive on the morning of the concert. Sirius and Remus were still sitting at breakfast when Mr Black let him in, and James was more than happy to help himself to scrambled eggs and coffee.

As the three boys made their way up to the sitting room, dogs pushing about their knees, eager not to be left behind, the doorbell rang again. Regulus answered it, and shortly after he joined them in the sitting room, accompanied by Peter, Claudia and Lily.

They all scattered themselves about the room, Peter spreading out on the rug, Sirius and Remus sprawled together on a two-seater.

"So, Remus," James said, "did Spain help with your furry little problem?"

Remus couldn't repress the smile that spread across his lips, much as he would have liked to given the strange looks he was getting from Regulus and the girls. "Not in the slightest," he said. "I'll give you the details later."

James nodded and winked, ran his hand through his hair and turned to Regulus, asking him questions about his broom and who he thought would take over as Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain in the new school year.

The day whiled away, the group catching up on their holiday news. Before too long the girls had retreated to the room they were to share – Sirius' parents had insisted on them sharing according to gender – and began to dress for the concert. Remus shared an exasperated look with Peter and James. Regulus had gone out with a friend and finally the four boys were left alone.

"So ... Spain?" James asked again, gently.

Remus shared the story, keeping to the bare bones. The others were appalled, and Remus was touched by how well his friends reacted, keeping their responses based on how they knew Remus would react to them. They supported him, and in that moment he appreciated them more than ever.

Finally, time came for the boys to change into their concert clothes. Once again Sirius insisted on applying makeup to Remus. "You look gorgeous, nazz. Totally Glam Rock. It's a freak-out."

"Yeah, yeah, just get on with it," Remus grumbled.

Sirius did and then Remus dressed – red leather flares, and his black and red silk shirt that had been bought for Bowie's New Year's concert. A chain belt and black boots (platformed, of course) completed the look. Sirius tied his hair back with a black ribbon. Remus frowned. "It'll show off your good-looks, and make the glitter stand out."

"What glitter!?" Remus cried, flying up from the bed and crossing to the mirror. Aside from eyeliner and mascara, Sirius had contoured his cheekbones and highlighted them with gold glitter. While he was standing there, Sirius tipped more glitter over the top of his head. "Sirius!"

"You look awesome, stop whinging." Sirius kissed him then, a deep, intense kiss, designed to make Remus forget all about glitter. Mm, he was wearing that cherry lip gloss again.

Sirius himself was wearing bright-blue wide-leg denims with a silver satin shirt which was unbuttoned to his abdomen. His platforms were silver leather with glittery laces and his makeup eerily perfect.

When they returned to the sitting room Peter and James were already there, sitting on a couch and playing cards. Sirius inspected their clothes – black denim flares and an emerald green t-shirt with various buttons on the sleeve for James, and skin-tight, dark ruched jeans tucked into knee length navy platform boots with a black shirt for Peter. Sirius was more impressed with their efforts this time than the last, and said as much.

"Mm, cool," Sirius said a few minutes later when the girls finally rejoined them. Claudia was wearing a purple corduroy dress with brown shoes, her hair twisted into two plaits. Lily was wearing yellow flares and a red t-shirt, tied in a knot on one side so that a stretch of smooth white skin showed. Like James, she had buttons pinned to one sleeve.

"Right," Peter said, standing and wrapping an arm around Claudia's shoulders. "Let's go."

Go they did. It was a warm night, and they didn't mind the walk to the concert hall. Once again, Sirius fought to get them first to the front of the queue and then next to the stage. They were lucky again; they all got a good spot along the fencing at the foot of the stage.

The opening act was known as 'The Sombrero Club' and basically comprised a collection of singers doing one or two songs each. It was unusual, but enjoyable, and the Marauders happily danced and sang along, guzzling drinks and growing steadily hotter in the stuffy, smoky atmosphere.

There was no intermission between the opening act and Brian Slade, and no introduction either. He simply stalked onto the stage after another artist exited.

The screams were deafening. Remus placed a hand over one ear even as he joined in with the cheering. Brian Slade looked amazing – the living, breathing epitome of Glam Rock God. He was wearing tight trousers, long boots and a sequined bolero. But the best part was his hair – cut into the mullet style that was becoming so popular and coloured electric blue.

Brian fixed them all, the whole audience, with a sultry gaze. "Thanks, everyone, for coming out." He winked one blue eye at the crowd; the screams intensified. "Let's kick off with an old one." The band began to play 'Ladytron'. Remus was surprised – he had thought they'd start with something energetic to get everyone excited, but Brian and the Venus in Furs apparently did things differently.

The music was deafening, even if the song was a ballad, and the air was hot and heavy. Lily and James were wrapped closely around each other, grooving in time to the music. Sirius' arm slid around Remus' waist and they moved together, close and slow. The floor under Remus' shoes was sticky with spilt drinks and there was a smell of tobacco and cannabis on the air.

'Ladytron' was followed with 'We Are the Boys' and a string of other, newer hits. Curt Wild burst suddenly onto the stage in a haze of purple steam, between songs, a guitar draped down his back and grinning, waving at the audience who had rallied another volley of raucous cheering for his appearance. He swung the guitar around his body and strummed the opening notes to 'Satellite of Love'.

"Bom, bom, bom," Sirius hummed in Remus ear. He was standing behind the werewolf, arms wrapped tight around his middle, under his shirt. "Moony the satellite of love." He nuzzled Remus' ear, and though he, Remus, was smiling he wished his hair was not tied back. Locks had escaped the satin ribbon and were curling, damp and heavy now from perspiration, around his brow and jaw.

"You idiot," Remus murmured back, unsure whether Sirius would be able to hear him.

Brian was stalking the stage, and Sirius was swaying behind Remus, moving their bodies in time with the music, but Remus' eyes were stuck on Curt. On Curt's long, blond hair which was flipping about his face as he strolled across the stage on long legs, legs exaggerated by silver platform boots.

Remus was so fixated on Curt that he didn't even realise when Brian stopped directly in front of him and Sirius. He didn't notice until the song finished and Brian yelled out, "Everyone, I've spotted our Lady Stardust!"

Remus' eyes snapped back to Brian – the musician was gesturing past him to where Sirius stood, body wrapped around the younger boy's, his jaw dropped open. James, Lily, Peter and Claudia all turned and stared, each of them looking both stunned and annoyed. Brian was now waving his hand at a guard, who broke through the crowd, grabbed Sirius by the shoulder and steered him bodily up and onto the stage.

"You all remember Lady Stardust, right?" Brian called out as Sirius was deposited, looking somewhat pale and nervous, beside him. "The living embodiment of Ziggy Stardust, who danced on stage with my buddy David Bowie at last New Year's London concert?"

There was a huge cheer from the crowd; it seemed many people did remember, and appreciated the reappearance of Sirius' good looks and immaculate Glam fashion. Or, the crowd was simply polite and excited. Remus himself stood stock still, astonished at this blatant copying of Bowie's kindness – somewhere in the back of his mind he knew it had something to do with publicity. Sirius, despite liking Bowie's music more and having been dragged onto the stage of a rock concert once before, seemed stunned to the point of Petrifaction. He was staring blankly and almost (though of course, not) unattractively at Brian's earring.

"I think we all want to see this gorgeous Lady Stardust dance some more!" The crowd cheered. "Do you jive?" Brian asked Sirius. The brunet snapped back into life and nodded. Remus blinked rapidly. He felt a hand come down on his shoulder, jumped, and turned his head to see James staring at him, looking stunned and concerned.

"S'all right," Remus called over the sound of the audience. "I-"

But he never finished his sentence, because at that moment another hand closed tightly on his other shoulder. Remus started so violently he swore his skin and skeleton became separate entities. He turned his head and felt his mouth fall open. Curt Wild was kneeling on the stage directly in front of him, one callused hand holding onto his shoulder, the other stretched out, offering.

Remus stood frozen, staring into Curt's face. His eyes were a colour somewhere between blue and green and he was grinning, a wide grin that showed teeth that somehow looked _happy_. His whole face lit up with it – a grin Remus had never seen in publicity shots or on album covers. In a small room at the back of his mind Remus heard a voice yelling at him for staring and looking so ridiculous.

Curt seemed to understand. "Don't be nervous," he said softly, but Remus could hear him without any trouble. "Just close your eyes, and picture _yourself_ on stage." Remus nodded, without really knowing what he was agreeing to, and put his hand in Curt's. It felt soft despite its roughness, warm and solid. Curt wrapped it firmly around Remus' long and bony hand and wrenched the boy onto the stage. "What's your name?" Curt asked as Remus' face came dangerously close to his and James' grip fell away from his shoulder. Curt smelled like peppermints and cigarettes. Remus, without really being aware of it, breathed in deep, breathing in Curt, who merely kept beaming that winsome grin.

"Remus," Remus replied, stunned to find himself up on the stage. His eyes flitted away from Curt and landed on Sirius and Brian where they stood, both looking considerably taken aback. There was something accusing hiding in Sirius' eyes, and something hostile in Brian's.

"D'you wanna dance with me, Remus?"

"Ahh," Remus faltered, unsure what to do. There was something so desperately alluring about Curt, and he wanted to say yes. The American was laughing gently at him.

"What'll make you comfortable?" Curt asked softly, breathing into Remus' ear, walking around him, closely, hands on his body, waist, hips, as he led Remus across the stage.

"A guitar," Remus replied without thinking. A smile curved Curt's lips and he laughed again and nodded and took his own guitar off his body and passed it to Remus.

"Go for it, wolf-child," Curt said with another grin, and winked at the astonished look Remus threw him.

"Whah...?"

"I know wolves," Curt said gruffly, then turned abruptly to his microphone. His voice was amplified now as he said, "Lady Stardust's boyfriend is gonna play with us. Take it, boys." Remus saw Brian flick his eyebrows at this direction, but the band began again and Brian took up his microphone without comment. Remus hurriedly adjusted Curt's guitar to fit his body, and picked up the rhythm as he recognised 'The Ballad of Maxwell Demon'.

Brian was dancing, with Sirius off to his right. Remus saw the pair out of the corner of his eye, and was pleased for his boyfriend's luck. Sirius was considered to be one of the most good-looking people at Hogwarts, and it was something he was aware of and played up to his advantage. It seemed to work on just about everyone, two big names in the music industry had now been unable to resist dancing with delicious Sirius in public. Remus was proud, suddenly, that he was the lucky one who shared Sirius' heart – and his bed. Nobody else could claim that privilege.

Remus found his stride with the guitar, and played along with the band. He realised Curt had positioned the microphone near enough for them both to use, though Remus knew already that trying to sing along with Brian, who was now crooning, "_Mister, show me the way to earth..._" into Sirius' neck, would not be a good idea.

Suddenly, he jumpd again. Warm hands had slipped around his waist, and that smiling face was pressed beside his shoulder – Curt Wild had come up behind him and was running his hands across Remus' body, hands, over the guitar... Curt's breath was hot against his neck. "You play well," the American murmured, his hands resting lightly atop Remus' own. "Better than I expected when you asked for a guitar." There was a laugh hidden in Curt's voice. Remus tried to ignore the feeling of those silver flares pressing against him, Curt's body swaying in time to the strum of Remus' fingers.

It was the strangest feeling, somewhere between being felt up and being hugged. Remus was surprised he didn't feel more intimidated; rather, he felt as though he were being made safe. It was something like being embraced by a brother, but far, far less innocent. However, at the same time, while the dance they were creating was certainly sexual, there was no erotic feeling, at least, Remus reasoned, not on his part. Sexual, but not erotic definitely summed it up.

That may have been how it felt, how, indeed, it was, but it obviously did not appear that way. Every time Brian circled behind Sirius, Remus could see a look of fury directed towards him and Curt. When he sang the line "_vicious metal hounds_," it was definitely aimed at Remus, if the poisonous glare that accompanied it was anything to go by. Sirius was not looking around, he had sent one glance towards the pair, looked away with a surprised and hurt expression and not looked back, focussing instead on putting on a show with, or for, Brian.

Remus was desperately glad when, amongst huge cheering and squealing and screaming, he and Sirius were returned to the crowd after only one song.

"Hey, London, give us a big hand for Lady Stardust's boyfriend and his _incredible_ guitar playing! Kid, you could go pro and join a band," Curt said, turning to Remus and wearing that knee-weakening grin again.

"Done that," Remus said witheringly, and Curt laughed and kissed his cheek and helped him back off the front of the stage to where James was waiting. Curt winked as he turned away.

"And let's hear a yell for the delectable Lady Stardust himself!" Brian called in his husky voice. "I'm sure we'll see more of your lovely face."

Sirius smiled and then slipped off the stage, melding back into his place against the railing and narrowing his eyes at Remus.

"What was all that?" he said fiercely. Remus heaved a mental sigh; he knew where this was going.

"Listen," he said, and his voice was iron-hard. "You know that I love you, so much that it is simply pathetic. Just remember that and enjoy the concert and we can talk back at yours."

Sirius set his jaw in a way that told Remus he wanted to argue the point, but after a moment, as their friends bustled excitedly around them, interrupting them, he dropped his aggressive posturing and nodded. Remus relaxed and smiled and placed an arm around Sirius' shoulders, kissing him gently near the ear.

"We're gonna take a little break – everyone grab a drink and put your dancing shoes on. We'll be back on in fifteen," Trevor, the guitarist of Brian Slade's band, had picked up the microphone. The stage was already empty.

Claudia was trying to drape herself over Remus' back – it was not working at all, she was far too short, and Remus was far too tall and bony. "Curt Wild was draped over you like a curtain! Twirling you around like a matador on amphetamine shooing a bull! I want to soak up Curt, Remus!"

"Through osmosis?" Remus asked drily, but really, he was annoyed. The thing between him and Curt was only between him and Curt – the others, not being werewolves, wouldn't understand that desirous connection, though, Remus supposed resignedly, he could understand their enthusiasm.

Lily was stroking her hand across Sirius' arm, looking awed as she traced the places Brian had caressed. James rolled his eyes, clapped both his friends on their shoulders, and grinning, grabbed Peter and went to get them all drinks.

The girls were hanging off the two remaining Marauders, stopping any conversation Remus and Sirius might have wanted to have – though Remus was certainly not keen on any talks at that minute anyway. Aside from Lily and Claudia they were being buffeted by people on their way to the loos and to buy drinks. The scent of tobacco and marijuana wafted past Remus' nose with concert patrons in various states of unwash and Glam dress. People were thumping him on the shoulder and going for a grope as they grinned and gave him thumbs up. Sirius was getting a similar treatment, but unlike Remus, he seemed to be somewhat enjoying it. Remus suddenly felt that he would like nothing better than to hold Sirius' hand, or put an arm about him.

_Dear Merlin,_ he thought, shaking yet another hand off his arm as Claudia prattled excitedly at him, _I am turning into a girl_.

The intermission was soon over, and the crazy turmoil died down. Sirius made his way back to Remus' side, and smiled a small but unstrained smile and slipped an arm around him, resting his hand possessively in the small of Remus' back. James and Lily had vanished, but Claudia and Peter lined up beside the boys on the fence below the stage.

The lights came to illuminate Brian, standing centre stage, bolero and earring glittering madly, blue hair looking like flame, rigid on his scalp. The lights spread wide to illuminate the rest of the band as Brian began to sing. Curt, Remus noted, was nowhere in sight.

"_Baby's on fire, better throw her in the water_..."

"Where are Prongs and Lily?" Sirius hollered to Claudia over the sound of the music.

"Bathroom," she said, with a grin, an eye roll and then a lascivious wink. Sirius barked out a laugh and tossed his hair back.

"Right outcome, wrong concert," Remus said and shook his head, but they were all smiling.

Brian spun on the stage, one hand flying out as he sang, "_Photographers snip-snap_," and Curt came bounding onto the stage, bouncing on his feet, shaking his fists and flipping the bird to the audience. He moved to his guitar, where the roadies had set it up during the break. Curt's eyes scanned the crowd and found Remus. He winked as he turned and strung the guitar over his neck. Sirius' hand pressed a little tighter into Remus' back.

Brian was watching Curt too. There seemed to be some strange sort of flirtation going on on the stage, as the sound of Curt's guitar joined the music.

None of them saw it coming. It happened so suddenly. Remus doubted it was planned. Yet it happened.

Brian, at the end of the verse, threw himself onto his knees, wrapped his arms around Curt's arse and stuck his tongue into the guitar.

The crowd went _crazy_.

Sirius' hand gripped the back of Remus' shirt so hard Remus thought his silk shirt would tear.

Claudia nearly fell over the railing she was leaning on.

Remus heard himself say something that sound ridiculously like "gnahh".

"They're missing it!" Peter shrieked. He was right; Lily and James had not returned and were missing the spectacular performance – Brian's mouth pressed against the guitar, tongue flinging the strings, face positioned directly in front of a particularly personal area of Curt's anatomy. Sirius made a burbling noise next to him and Claudia gasped and giggled nervously. That struck Remus; Claudia was very rarely giggly or embarrassed. Still, it was almost like a live pornography show. Not quite, but almost.

Remus found his eyes were on Curt's face. Curt had shaken his head madly, his hand flew away from the guitar. Brian's fingers were wound tightly into his waistband, but Curt seemed to be trying to throw the singer off.

The audience was still going berserk, dropping empty bottles and half-smoked cigarettes underfoot in their uproar. Remus heard smashing glass and a yelp as somebody's expensive cuffs smouldered.

Suddenly, Curt jerked away from Brian, blue hair and silver jeans separated, and flung himself across the stage. A microphone stand went flying. Everything about his posture seemed to shout, childishly, _my guitar! Get off!_ And Remus wondered just how possessive Curt was about his guitar, and how significant it was that he, Remus, had been given it to play. And then, irrationally, self-importantly, Remus wondered if the reason Curt didn't want Brian besmirching his guitar was _because_ he, Remus, had played it.

Brian was slithering across the stage now, looking as though he was trying to save face at the unexpected refusal. People were still cheering, impressed, clearly, by Brian's muscular ability, holding his entire body off the stage and crawling on his hands. It was impressive.

After that, the concert seemed almost dull. The music and show was still amazing, but the massive thrill generated by Brian's on-stage antics was hard to beat. Sirius was flushed and Claudia had a strange light in her eyes, Peter looked as if he had been Confunded. Brian moved onto the next song, and Curt just generally kept moving as he played his guitar, stopping only to sing into his microphone. Brian transferred his sexual gestures to Trevor whenever he couldn't get to Curt and kept the audience gasping and cheering in various ways, none of which, though, came anywhere near the sight of Brian splayed between Curt's legs, lips dangerously close to his fly buttons.

Lily and James returned sometime later, and Remus barely listened as Claudia excitedly relayed what they had missed. James looked mildly horrified, and somewhat awed as well, and gave a bewildered smile. He leant close to Remus ear, and hollered, "Bit too much like interrupting you two, I can only imagine!" Remus grinned, laughing almost, and thumped him on the back.

Lily was goggling, but said quite calmly, "Well, you won't make page one this time, will you?" Sirius threw her a dirty look and appeared as though he wanted to retort, but up on the stage, at that moment, Curt let out a roaring howl and all six of them snapped around to watch what was happening.

Curt was now alone on the stage, the band members were hidden back and could not be seen, and Remus assumed Brian was taking a break from the hot lights. Curt began to sing, a song the Marauders all knew well, one of his own from an album recorded before the he had cut with Brian. "_See that cat_," Curt growled. His voice sent a shiver down Remus' spine. "_Yeah I do mean you,_" and Curt pointed at Remus and winked again.

"Why does everyone keep calling me a cat?" Remus asked, a frown falling onto his forehead. "Bowie did it too. I hate cats. I am not a cat."

"I know, love," Sirius said, the only one who appeared to have heard him. Sirius gave his arm a brief squeeze and then continued to jump around to the music. Well, Remus supposed, at least his boyfriend had taken his advice and was aiming clearly to enjoy the entire concert. He wondered how long this ... living-in-the-moment-ness ... would last.

Not long, apparently.

The concert closed with Brian singing 'The Whole Shebang'. Sirius pulled Remus close and sang into his ear as they danced together to the music. Once, as Brian sang the chorus, Remus saw Curt glance at the pair of them and smile that gorgeous, knee-melting, winning smile again. Remus grinned back and dipped his head in an acknowledgement of the impending farewell. "_All or nothing, anything..._" Sirius hummed in Remus' ear.

"_Ecstasy's the birthright of our gang_," Remus murmured back.

Sirius smiled; Remus could feel it against his cheek. The sharp point of Sirius' chin was digging into his clavicle, Sirius' hair soft and tickling at his bare ear. "I love you singing," Sirius said.

Their friends were bellowing the words to the song beside them, totally unaware of the quiet exchange. Remus was surprised at Sirius' admission. He didn't think he'd ever sung in front of Sirius, and told him so.

"You have," Sirius said and Remus felt the brunet's smile curve wider. "You sang 'Saviour Machine' to me once. Remember? When I told you the story of Prince Delicious and Sunny O'Sky?"

Remus felt a grin curl his own lips. "Yes, I remember." And he sang the rest of the song, 'The Whole Shebang', to Sirius, both of them knowing how significant a song it was in their relationship, what it stood for, between them.

And then the concert was over, and they were making a shuffled, and slightly tipsy (from too much alcohol and second-hand smoke) way, outside into the mild summer night. It was late, very late, and cool but not cold.

"Shall we walk it this time?" Peter asked as they all stood, eyeing the street for a taxi. It was ridiculously crowded and already cabs were filling up. James nodded a reply, and no one argued with him as they wall set off up the street, keeping close together with the girls sheltered between the four Marauders.

There was excited talk and happy faces all the way home, the concert proving to be every bit as good as Bowie's at New Year's, with indeed a few special treats of its own. The long walk home passed quickly enough, and Remus' feet didn't hurt thanks to his enormous shoes, though his trousers were starting to feel stiff and uncomfortable with drying sweat.

The happy faces disappeared as soon as Remus shut Sirius' bedroom door behind him after putting their friends to bed and letting Sirius' parents know they were home safely. Sirius' mood had changed abruptly, his promise to let things lie until they reached home fulfilled literally. His face was set as he opened his mouth to begin talking about the dreaded-Curt.

Remus felt it was going to be a long night.

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A/N: Well, I hope this reasonably long chapter made up for the extensive lateness of it. It's not lived up to my aspirations, but I hope you've enjoyed it! Thank you thank you. :)

See you when I get back.


	14. Absolute Beginners

A/N: Well, I am back! Thank you to **Ravenna Reckless** for kind words of well-wishing for my holiday. I had a wonderful time, and it has been a rude shock coming back to reality! Thank you also to **lizzy0308 **and **procrastinating-insomniac** for your awesome reviews! I hope to see you again. :)

I have published this as quickly as I could, but I've been hectic and unstructured since getting home and the editting on this may show it. I hope not. Also, this is the second-to-last chapter! One more chapter, and then I will be writing another tie-in for The Prettiest Star series.

This chapter is inspired by the (title, mostly) '86 movie theme song 'Absolute Beginners', released on the film soundtrack of the same name. It's another longish one, to hopefully make up for my absence! Hope you enjoy. :)

Disclaimer: Same gaff as every other time. **Oh, except I want to stress that I do not condone underage drinking or underage sexual activity.**

WARNING: This chapter contains many scenes of sexual orientation and may not be appropriate for legally underage readers.

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Absolute Beginners

It was a surprisingly cold night in Gryffindor tower. It was late, so late that it was almost another sunrise. The Marauders were scattered around the common room fireplace, dozens of bottles littering the areas near them, playing cards, a muggle newspaper discarded haphazardly on the floor.

Sirius, sitting on the rug, leaned across and elbowed James in the ribs. "Heard you and Lily, last night, eheh," he said and chortled.

James flushed deep scarlet, as red as his favourite Gryffindor bedspread. Lily and Claudia had run off to the loos, thus the girl in question had not heard the comment.

"Yeah," Remus smirked from the couch corner nearest Sirius, and joined in the teasing. "Didn't you learn about silencing charms from Sirius and me?"

The colour did not fade from James' cheeks as he threw a cushion at the werewolf, glaring back and forth between his two friends. "He's a bad influence on you, Remus," the bespectacled boy grumbled, pointing at his fellow brunet.

Remus grinned (and it could only be described as _wolf_ish) and took his lover's hand. "Oh, yes," was his only, simple, reply, before he leaned over and kissed Sirius. Mm, the boy was wearing cherry lip gloss.

It was a Saturday morning, most of Hogwarts' students wrapped up warm in bed. But not the Marauders – they had spent the night drinking and gaming and were now wonderfully mellow – none of them ready to go up to bed, but at the same time bored of cards and 'Confessions'.

"Well, what now?" Peter asked, after the girls finally returned.

"Whattaya mean? We're picking on Jim, that's what's now," Sirius said, poking James repeatedly in the leg.

"What're you picking on him for?" Lily asked indignantly, hands on hips. She crossed the hearth, pushed Sirius' hand away with her foot and deposited herself in James' lap. His arms went around her waist, and they settled into each other companionably.

"_Awwww_," Sirius and Peter said in unison, tones identically sarcastic. Claudia, who had dropped herself onto her favourite place on the rug, in front of the fire, grinned widely at them all.

"I was enjoying the confessions," she said. "I mean, who would have thought that Sirius, bundle of energy, can't climb trees?"

"Perfectly good reasons for that," Sirius said darkly, squinting at her. The other Marauders shared an amused look.

Claudia nodded cheerily, totally unperturbed. "I found you up a tree, once. How did you get up there, then?"

Sirius shrugged. "That is the question: one of life's great mysteries."

"Well, what were you picking on Jamie for, then?" she asked next, changing the subject when it was clear Sirius was not offering any more information.

"_We-ell_," Sirius began, grinning wildly, taking a big mouthful of his Firewhisky and looking at James out of the corner of his eye. "Last night, he took his fine young lassie-"

Lily kicked him. Her face was bright red, half mortified and half furious. Sirius' expression didn't change at all. He started tipping his head from side to side, clearly enjoying her discomfort. Lily's face grew so crimson that Remus had trouble telling where her hairline was.

"Well, we all know what it was now, Lil," Claudia said, her own face sporting a grin, speedily growing to mirror the one Sirius wore.

"We've all _done_ it," Peter chipped in. "It's not like it was your first time."

Remus thought if Lily's face grew any hotter it would burst into flame.

"_Was it_?" Sirius and Peter gasped together. Claudia snickered a little. Even Remus couldn't keep a grin off his face now, watching delightedly. James was gulping down his Firewhisky in record time; Remus was impressed – his throat would have had to be burning.

"Well, c'mon, you have to tell us now!" Sirius exclaimed, now jabbing Lily in one thin leg. "_Was_ it the first time?"

"We haven't ever heard them _before_," Remus interjected, smiling slyly.

Lily kicked Sirius again and stared daggers at Remus.

Peter was chortling. "I have never heard them either..."

Claudia smirked broadly. "I have. I came in late from detention one night and they were here on the couch, but the Invisibility cloak had fallen off."

"WHAT?" Lily screeched. "When was this?"

Claudia shrugged. "'Bout a month ago, or more."

"_Christ_."

Remus frowned and shifted position on the couch. He hoped the House Elves had scrubbed the upholstery since.

"Don't be embarrassed." Claudia was saying placatingly, despite a mischievous grin. "It's happened to us all at some stage. _We_ woke Remus up, one night. And once I used the boys' dorm shower and Sirius walked in on me."

"_What_?" This time the shriek came from Peter.

"It's okay, love," Claudia said, patting Peter's arm with perfectly painted scarlet and gold nails. "I had a towel on."

Peter looked suspiciously at Sirius, but the brunet was staring fixedly at the ceiling.

"Sirius doesn't like girls anyway," Claudia continued.

"I like girls fine," Sirius said to the roof.

A quiet chuckle echoed around the circle of friends. Remus hid a smile behind his hand as Sirius lowered an accusing gaze upon him. "What?" he growled.

"Nothing, mate. Nothing at all." James spoke before Remus could, then stretched out his foot and used it to pat Sirius on the shoulder. His knee caught Lily's elbow and she slapped his leg back down.

"Well!" Sirius said explosively, looking affronted. "You can't have been doing it for very long if Lily is that embarrassed! So when _was_ your first time, then, if not last night?"

There was a long silence as the whole group adjusted to the fact that Sirius had just swung the conversation determinedly away from himself.

"Sirius," Lily said firmly, "I am not sharing my first-time story with you."

"Why me in particular? Tell Moony then – I won't listen." Sirius made a show of turning his face away, complete with a flick of his long hair, but before Lily had a chance to respond, Claudia had burst in.

"Hey, that's a great idea!" she cried. "Let's all share our first-time stories!"

"Uh..." was all Remus could manage.

"_Why_?" James asked, baffled.

"Why not?" Claudia replied. "It'll be even better than Confessions, and we'll all be sharing the same kinda story. Why not?"

It was late and the alcohol had had enough of an effect for the suggestion to hold some sway. Before too long, everyone had agreed to share their tales. Peter passed about fresh bottles of butterbeer. Remus took a deep swig of his and vowed to himself that he would not go first.

"Well, it was your idea, Claud," James said, tearing open a packet of chocolate biscuits. "Lead by example."

Peter flushed, and Claudia hadn't even opened her mouth yet.

"Well, we started dating so young that, to be honest, sex didn't even occur to us for a long time," she began, remarkably unflustered and unembarrassed. Her manner appeared to put everyone else at ease; Remus felt tension begin to alleviate from the group. Claudia continued, "And then, we'd been together for so long without having that aspect in our relationship that we didn't even miss it. So we were together for ages before it happened.

"Our first time was on Peter's fifteenth birthday, so in fourth year, like. We'd set the date, and we researched sex and planned for it. Bit pathetic, but we were nervous and had absolutely no idea. There was a fair bit of alcohol involved, 'cause of Peter's party, so I don't remember it really well, but at least it meant you lot were all drunk and fast asleep. We took it easy, didn't feel any need to rush. We already knew each other so well.

"My mum always talked to me about it, she was the first one I told afterward. I think she was disappointed I was so young, but she was good about it all the same. She'd warned me the first time isn't usually far out or amazing or shooting stars or feeling somehow different after. Which was good, because she was completely right."

"You make me sound quite the stud," Peter said with a subtle grumble in his voice, but he was smiling kindly and rubbing Claudia's hand with his thumb.

"You are, my dear," Claudia said smiling cheerily as she sipped her butterbeer. "And our first time was still lovely and wonderful even if it wass not in the way we expected. It was definitely special, which I think was most important, and it made us grown up, together."

That appeared to be the end of Claudia's story. All heads turned to Peter to see if he had anything to add.

"That's more or less it," he said. "It was the best birthday present I'd ever had, anyway."

James gave him a strained smile and Sirius patted him roughly on the shoulder.

"So hang on!" James suddenly yelped. "That night in fourth year, when you lot were all in bed together ... that was before your birthday, Pete, before all of ours. What the hell were you three doing?"

A sly smile was shared between Peter, Claudia and Lily. "Like I told you that night, Jimmy," Peter said airily, "nothing that you need to worry about."

This was the first Remus remembered hearing about Peter, Claudia and Lily in bed together, though he was certain he must have been told gossip that good at some point. His memory often ended up somewhat shaky in the days around full moon, so he assumed that was when the shared-bed-event had taken place.

"Was that one of our Charms sessions?" Lily queried. Peter nodded and winked – the wink Remus was sure was designed to infuriate James. It did. The bespectacled boy frowned darkly, heaved a deep breath in through his nose, and snorted it out again, but held his peace. Lily turned on him, not content to leave well enough alone, or perhaps just glad to have something to tease he boyfriend with. Remus couldn't be sure. "What did you _think_ we were doing?" she questioned archly.

James curled his nose up and gave another snorting breath, flicking his head side to side in rather a stag-like way. "Since you're feeling so _mouthy_," he said, ignoring the question, "why don't you share _your_ story next?"

An angry flush spread across Lily's cheeks, and her mouth twisted in embarrassment. "Very well," she said with aching dignity. She licked her lips and the flush receded slowly, leaving her face looking even more starkly white than ever.

"My very first ever time..." Lily said carefully, pushing her plait back over her shoulder and shifting on James' lap, perhaps so that she could see his face as she revealed her story. "It was at the end of fifth year, so I was sixteen. I was worried that was too young, but now that I know you two were younger than me," Lily frowned disapprovingly, "I don't feel quite so bad." She paused.

The silence drew out as Lily clearly searched for the words to continue with.

"Well?" prompted Claudia. "Who was it with? Obviously not James."

Lily and James shared a strange look, a wry grin. "No," Lily responded. "No," she repeated, "it was Frank Longbottom."

Remus felt his eyes go wide, and saw Peter and Claudia's jaws drop simultaneously open. James looked astonished and even Sirius quirked an impressed eyebrow. "Frank Longbottom?" James whispered.

"_The_ Frank Longbottom?" Claudia asked, sounding awed.

Lily nodded, not meeting any of their eyes. "He was in seventh year of course, was eighteen... I was madly in love with him, really, or thought I was." Remus could see Lily watching James out of the corner of her eye. James had withdrawn his arms from her waist, but didn't appear angry or jealous, merely interested.

"Like Quidditch players, don't you?" Peter said, nudging Claudia so that she closed her mouth and laughed gently as she rested back against him.

Lily smiled and shrugged, still keeping her eyes on James without meeting his intrigued gaze. "Well, you probably all remember Frank ... tall, handsome. Yes, he was Quidditch captain too. Wonderful beater, really."

"Ahm, _cough_?" Sirius said. "We're not here to listen to you moon over Frank Longbottom!"

"Well," Lily said indignantly, her green eyes flashing. "I'm establishing a mood, aren't I? The point is, that Frank was – and probably still is – very attractive, and at sixteen I was crazy about him. We started dating in February. He took me into Hogsmeade for our first date, on Valentine's day actually. It was a lovely day, he was wonderfully romantic, and I was just stunned that he'd asked me. All the girls were after him – except the ones who were after Remus –"

"Say, _what_? Remus interrupted, feeling astonishment flood into his brain. "Nobody was ever after me!"

"I think you'll find you're wrong, Remus," Lily said wryly, "but I'm telling my story, not yours, so you'll just have to wait. So anyway, I was pretty amazed when Frank asked me out.

"We dated for a few months before we did anything serious, and it was in May when we first, well ... _did_ it. And, well ... it was wonderful. We were in love, and Frank knew what he was doing, and he took his time, gentle touches and foreplay that lasted forever. When Frank finally, uh, deflowered me, I guess ... I wanted it, and I was ready for it, and he was so brilliant and it was wonderful."

There was silence when Lily stopped speaking, the others in the group all looking around at each other, somewhat awed and somewhat jealous.

"So why'd it end?" James asked carefully. Remus noticed his arms had gone about her waist again.

Lily shrugged. "He was leaving school. We both agreed that a long-distance thing wasn't going to work great when I was still in school and he was headed for Auror training. Plus, despite my total adoration for Frank, I kinda had a thing for you too," Lily blushed as she tipped her head towards James. "Which made for feelings both very complicated and confusing. I guess a person can be in love with two people at once... Still, I was pretty broken up when Frank and I split. Cried for the first week of summer holidays that year. We still write though. He's dating Alice MacMillan now – remember her? She was in Hufflepuff, left last year. They met in the Auror academy."

"Well that's nice," James said, resting his chin in the curve of Lily's neck. "Do I live up to the standard set by Frank Longbottom, then?"

Lily turned her face to his. "Yes," she said simply, and kissed him.

"So is he the only one?" Sirius asked. Remus nudged him in the back with his foot.

"Apart from James?" Lily asked, utterly unflustered by the considerably personal question, one which strictly she need not answer as it did not relate to her first time. "Yes."

Sirius nodded, his expression unreadable. Remus spared him a bemused look, for which he got a puppy-dog, 'who me' sort of expression as reply.

"Well," Lily said finally, turning once more and settling again against James' chest. "That's my story. Who's next?"

All eyes turned to James. He pushed his glasses up, put on his most mature face and said, "I think it better be you, Moony."

Remus laughed and smiled and said, "Yeah, okay then. Why not." As long as he wasn't going first.

Sirius sat up straight suddenly, turning on the rug to face Remus, looking alert, a faint frown creasing his brow. Remus wasn't too sure exactly what Sirius was looking so concerned about. He had heard Remus' first-time story before, or at least, the bare bones of it. They had traded their stories, months before, when they had first become a couple. Remus may have neglected a few details, like the skinny-dipping that Sirius had refused to believe of him anyway, but there was surely no need to look so worried.

"My first time was during the summer between fifth year and sixth year, so I was sixteen as well."

Remus paused, thoughtful. "Actually, whi-"

But he was interrupted. Claudia blurted, "Huh? But ... I thought your first time was with each other!" She was looking at Remus and pointing at Sirius with a long, silver nail.

Remus and Sirius looked at each other and roared with laughter.

"What on earth made you think that?" Sirius said, the frown easing off his face as Remus and he guffawed at their friend's folly. But as their laughter slowly died away, Remus realised with a jolt that _all_ of their friends had thought the same.

"Well," Claudia said, looking uncharacteristically embarrassed, "I don't know, really... just ... I guess I just assumed. None of _your_ relationships, Sirius, ever seemed that ... involved, I guess. And _Remus_, well ... you never even had any relationships that we were aware of!"

Remus felt absolutely befuddled. "I had them," he assured his friends. "I just never flaunted them. Did _you_ think I was a virgin, Sirius, when we started dating?"

Sirius snorted in his scornful way. "No love. I could tell you weren't. I couldn't have said when it happened, but I just knew that it had. Remember, we mentioned it before we swapped stories?"

"I remember," Remus said, sparing a gentle look for his boyfriend. He never ceased to be surprised by just how well Sirius understood him.

"Well, that's lovely," James said, slightly impatiently now. "But not really relevant," he finished pointedly.

"Right," Lily agreed.

"Right," Remus echoed. "Had I started yet?"

"No," Lily said. "You were saying that it was summer and you were sixteen, then you said 'actually' and Claudia interrupted you."

"Oh, right," Remus said. "Yes, I was going to ask which first-time story you actually wanted to hear."

There was a silence. Remus remained calm, even when he saw the crease reappear, deeper now, between Sirius' eyes.

"What do you mean, _which_ first-time story?" the brunet growled.

"Yeah," Peter agreed, frowning in a way very different to Sirius. "You can only have one first time, you know, Rem."

Remus nodded his head once, leaving it dipped slightly when he spoke. "Yes, but did you want to hear about my first time with a boy, or with a girl?"

"WHAT?" the yell echoed through the room, coming in unison from everyone except Sirius, who looked as though he was crunching his teeth.

"You've been with a girl?" Peter was the one to ask the question Remus knew they were all thinking.

"Well, sure," Remus replied. "I figured I had to, if I wanted to know whether I preferred boys or girls."

"And...?" Lily prompted after a brief silence.

"I prefer Sirius," Remus said without hesitation, in a voice firm enough that he knew none of his friends would question him further. They took the hint.

"Well, I think you'll need to tell us both stories, Monsieur Moony," James said next.

Remus eyed his boyfriend. The fierce expression on Sirius' face had lifted when Remus declared him as preference, but had not taken long to settle again, though his eyes were fused to Remus' face. "Right," Remus said carefully. "Well, I'll start with the very first time, which was in the summer between fifth and sixth year as I said. It was with a boy I grew up with." Remus paused; his eyes fogged over and a sweet smile danced across his lips as he remembered. "Cyril..." he sighed.

Sirius jabbed him hard in the leg, looking offended. Remus blinked, then smiled a different smile, one he reserved especially for Sirius and his times of jealous idiocy. He leant forward, hooked a hand under Sirius' jaw and kissed him quickly. "Why're you so jealous?" he said quietly, letting a trace of a frustrated growl into his voice. Sirius just glared back petulantly.

Remus leant back into the couch, crossed his legs under him and began again. "Cyril Mormont. Curly blond hair – he wore it short. Long side-burns. Green eyes. We grew up together, went to the same muggle primary school until I got my letter. We played together on weekends, and after school if my parents didn't have magic lessons for me.

"We kept in touch while I was at school. Until I came to Hogwarts, he was my best friend. I'd send owls to my parents and they would pass letters on, dressed appropriately as muggle post.

"It didn't really occur to me that a lot of the reason we were so close was because we recognised that we were both differently inclined. While I've never flaunted my sexuality, like some," Remus winked coyly at Sirius, who did not respond, "I've never actively hidden it either. So Cyril must have known. As for me, I knew about him, because ... well, I can just tell these things." Remus gave the other Marauders a significant look, a look he knew would leave the girls wondering about him and his secrets yet again.

"It happened on the first day that we'd caught up after school let out. It was a gorgeous sunny day, so we took the bus out of the city to a country town and bought lunch and chatted by a river. We drank lemonade. The sun was so hot that we both wished we'd taken swimming costumes with us, but the area was well concealed so instead we stripped down to the skin and jumped in the river anyway.

"I had to hide how well I swim, that's something that I wouldn't have been able to explain easily. My scar was problematic enough – I told him it was a dog, a deerhound I think I said. So I was swimming really badly, and Cyril was laughing and saying how was it I could go to a posh boarding school and they hadn't taught me to swim. At one point I was splashing around so ridiculously that he laughed and swam under my arm and surfaced right next to me, right there, completely naked, his arm caught under mine as he pretended to save me from a potential drowning.

"I don't actually know even now which one of us started the kiss. But once we started we couldn't stop. He dragged me back to the riverbank, and it just ... sort of happened. It was clumsy, and painful, and neither of us had any idea what we were doing, but we got there in the end and it happened.

"Afterwards, pathetically, I started to cry. I had no idea why, I just couldn't stop. Cyril put his arms around me and said it was okay. He seemed more worried than offended. When he asked me what was wrong I told him I was in love. He knew I didn't mean with him, but he said 'me too', and kissed me again, with real purpose that time, and we did it again. After that, we lay together, naked, and had a cigarette each. Then we dressed, and I remember Cyril patting my hair and then we went home.

"Our relationship, such as it was, lasted all summer. We were together every day, and we learnt the ways of intimacy together, taught each other, worked it all out. We were happy really; it worked for us and I realised pretty early that when Cyril said he was in love he _had_ meant with me, and that was hard. I tried to end it then, but he wouldn't let me, just wouldn't. He tried to force me, physically, not to leave, and I kind of had to let him, because otherwise I'd probably have really hurt him.

"We talked about it afterwards, and Cyril said it was okay, he knew I didn't love him and he knew it would end when the summer did, and he said he was okay with that. He said there was a boy at the high school that he'd been sort of seeing, so I needn't worry. I wasn't sure how I felt about that and when the summer finally ended Cyril cried so many tears he could have filled the river we'd swum in."

There was a silence after Remus finished. Even Sirius looked saddened by the tale, having never heard every detail.

"That's really tragic, Remus," Claudia said in a tone more sober than Remus had ever heard her use.

"So it ended badly?" Lily asked.

Remus looked surprised. "Oh no. Cyril and I are still friends, and he's happy that I'm with Sirius now. He's moved on too, he's with a guy called Jacob now, though I think he still holds a torch for me."

"I thought you were a bit strange that summer at Brighton," Peter said, squinting at Remus.

"I suppose I was," Remus said thoughtfully. "Confused and guilty, probably."

"You were together the entire summer?" James asked, peering at Remus over the top of his glasses. Remus nodded. "How on earth did you get around your furry little problem?" Remus saw the girls shared a frustrated, confused look.

"Oh, that was easy," Remus said. "I just said I had relatives to see, you know ... visiting my Uncle Rome, or staying with my grandma to help with house hold chores."

Sirius grinned suddenly at that, "Oh Remus, what large hands you have!"

"The better to help you with, my dear," Remus grinned back. He ignored the eye rolls the comment earned from Peter and James, and the increasing confusion of the girls, and curled his hand around Sirius handsome jaw once again, and kissed him sweetly.

"Well, second story Remus!" Peter cried.

"Yes, who was the lucky lady?" Claudia asked, shifting herself slightly and passing around the Firewhisky. Sirius took himself a double measure and snapped open a bar of chocolate. Remus stole a piece of it and was rewarded with a shadowy glare. He was going to suffer for sharing these stories, was going to suffer Sirius' irrational, possessive jealousy.

"Righto," Remus said anyway, sucking on the chocolate. It had a slight cherry flavour; Sirius' lip gloss the werewolf realised. "Well, it was here at Hogwarts. And she's still here, so I'm not going to give you her name. But she's a Gryffindor and she's younger than Sirius. Okay?" Remus inflected his words with iron, knowing his friends as he did, knowing natural Marauder curiosity would push them to push _him_ for a name. The group took the hint and nodded as one.

"It was in mid-September, at the beginning of sixth year. We used the Prefect's bathroom. The mermaid kept flashing her fins at us. The girl was really good about it – I was honest, she was honest, and she taught me the differences between sleeping with a man and sleeping with a woman. It took forever, far different to my first time with Cyril. She made sure it took forever, and it paid off for her, at least, and didn't hurt me."

"Were ... were you attracted to her?" Lily asked, somewhat timidly.

"Sure," Remus said, raising his eyebrows in surprise. "I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't been. And we both enjoyed it."

"How do you know that?" Peter asked with a wink, teasing. A snigger ran through the group, all except Sirius, who was once again glowering.

"Because she dragged me into the Quidditch rooms on Halloween and had half my clothes off before I even realised who it was."

That earned Remus a respectful silence. Which actually surprised him. His friends must all be thinking that he was some wonderful lover-boy.

"Lucky you, Sirius!" Claudia said suddenly, reaching forward and slapping Sirius hard on the back. Sirius crunched his teeth again. Remus smiled apologetically.

"Well, that's my, uh, two first-time stories," Remus said rather lamely and drank deeply from his Firewhisky. He then slipped onto the floor and beside Sirius, putting one arm tightly across the latter's back. Sirius didn't pull away, but relaxed slightly instead, and Remus was glad.

James spoke. "Is it any different? Like, a man and a woman I mean?" he asked.

There was a surprised silence as everyone turned to James.

"Why do _you_ want to know?" Lily asked, arching one narrow brow high on her pretty, thin face.

James rubbed an unflustered hand through his rumpled hair. "I'm just curious," he said with thoughtful calm. "You know ... it's interesting. And Remus is the only one that can tell us."

The silence drew out. Lily rolled her eyes and even Peter was staring at James, utterly bemused. The tightness between Sirius' eyebrows had changed, in a way that Remus recognised as heralding probable stormy behaviour.

"It is different," Remus said, totally matter-of-fact. "For one thing, men are a lot harder." To illustrate his point, Remus lay down his drink, reached across and tapped Sirius in the middle of the chest. "And they're more direct." Remus turned his head, placed his mouth against Sirius hair, near the ear. "Stop it," he said so quietly that only the older boy could hear him. "Haven't I just proven beyond a doubt that I am one hundred per cent in love with you?"

Sirius turned his head and smiled kindly, though his expression was still tense. "I know," he said. "I'm ridiculous. But I can't help it."

"Possessive, jealous bugger," Remus said affectionately, tightening his arm around Sirius.

"Well, Sirius, I reckon that makes you next," Peter said, stretching out his legs and drinking deep from his Firewhisky. He was tipping his feet from side to side.

Sirius pouted darkly. "I don't want to share," he said.

James frowned over the top of his specs. "That's not very fair, Siri. We all did, and _you_ listened."

"I said _no_, _Jim-bo_," Sirius said petulantly.

"Why not?" Claudia asked, wiggling an eyebrow at him. "Was it that bad? Are you embarrassed?"

"No!" Sirius snapped. "It's just private, that's all."

The group shared a look. While Sirius was prone to occasional temperamental outbursts, this one seemed rather out of character and unprovoked to them all.

James, supreme and noble leader that he was, knew how to get around it. He passed a box of doughnuts across to Sirius. Sirius begrudgingly took one but only bit into it when Peter threatened to use it as a footrest if he didn't. It was, naturally, a chocolate one. Next James passed a bottle of Rowena's Glen wine over and Remus poured a glass for Sirius, James and himself.

"Who was it with, at least, Pads?" James asked after a few moments.

Sirius was staring at the ceiling again, having slipped from Remus' arm and reclining back on his elbows once more. "Kiernan O'Daigh," he muttered, around a mouthful of chocolate pastry.

James nodded sagely. "Guessed it must have been, if not Remus. When?"

"Fifth year. In Spring."

The friends shared another loaded glance. Clearly, Sirius was not going to make it easy for them. Remus drew his knees up to his chest, wrapped his arms around them. He already knew the story, and if Sirius was truly so uncomfortable sharing it with the others, then Remus would respect that and not participate in the interrogation.

There was a silence as James appeared to consider his next question. James knew Sirius best of them all, except, of course, Remus, and was the best one to tread around the awkward situation.

"What happened?"

Or maybe, Remus reasoned, James was just as stumped as the rest of them.

"We were in a relationship. We decided to give it a try." Sirius shrugged.

Silence.

"And then?" prompted James.

"What? And then nothing. We dated a bit longer, we broke up. End of story."

"Well, that's hardly a story at all Sirius. It's really a nothing," James replied, thumbing his glasses higher.

"Bugger you, James. If I want to keep some aspects of my life private I'm bloody allowed to. Even if the rest of you lot won't."

And that heated statement kept even James quiet. But only for a moment – it was finally his turn to tell his tale. Sirius was knocking back his wine in record time, not looking at any of them, but when Remus reached out and took his hand Sirius squeezed it in return.

"Well, Jamie," Remus said. "Your turn."

"Good-o." James said, leaning back in his chair and pulling Lily around the waist to keep their bodies close. "Well, it was with Molly Levin. In fifth year. Around Easter. We were both sixteen. We were drunk. I really don't remember much of it, actually. It wasn't a planned thing, and we weren't even dating. It wasn't her first time, though, and I think I was probably pretty unimpressive. I mean, what I remember of it just seems real clumsy and confused. She never complained though, just sort of told me what to do. Hours, we spent together the first time, and when it was morning and we were both sober we talked about what had happened, and about sex, and it was clear she was really comfortable with it and so I was too."

Peter's face was scrunched up in confusion. "Molly Levin?" he asked, clearly not remembering her.

"She was in seventh last year – her birthday was in August. She was Ravenclaw's Quidditch captain."

"Oh right," Peter said, comprehension smoothing his features. "What is it with you two and Quidditch players?"

James and Lily shared a look. "Well, Lily doesn't play," James said, tapping Lily's nose. She wrinkled it up and smiled.

"I like really good Quidditch players," she said in reply to Peter, and shrugged.

"So, if your first time was in fifth year..." Claudia said, "were you with Molly last year, too? I don't remember you having a girlfriend, is all."

"No, it was only a casual thing, long time over by that summer. I had a couple of short flings last year, nothing serious."

"Are you saying, Jimmy-dear," Remus said with a mildly surprised smile, "that you have played the field?"

"Only a little," James said with a crooked grin. Lily stabbed a finger into his side. Remus thought it looked rather painful, but James didn't flinch.

Claudia was leaning back against the brick side of the fireplace, beaming at them all. "Hm. Well, that was fun. Even better than I thought. And we all know each other a little better now. So that's nice."

The friends shared a warm glance, enough alcohol lacing each person's blood to prevent any embarrassment or discomfort. Sirius was the only holdout; he gave an agitated grunt.

"Well, at least we won't have to sneak around anymore," Lily mused, looking at James.

"Yes, well, just remember that we would rather not have to listen, so ... _silencing charms_," Remus said. Outside, far away in the castle grounds, a rooster crowed.

Peter yawned and poured himself another drink. "Well. Who wants to play five hundred?"

They all shuffled into a close circle, topping up every glass and sharing around the rest of the doughnuts in their store of stolen kitchen foods, as Peter dealt the cards. Peter, of course, won the game. After four rounds, one of which was championed by James, they finally called it a night, though the sun was touching the sky with pink and grey, and tottered up to bed.

Sirius' mood had lifted considerably once the beginners' stories had finished being told, and was reasonably cheerful, in a sleepy, drunken sort of a way, as the two boys slid behind the curtains of Remus' bed.

Remus cast a silencing charm around those curtains, as Sirius tugged the covers down and clambered under them, patting the mattress invitingly as Remus placed his illuminated wand on the headboard and yanked his clothes off.

Clad only in silken boxers, the two boys curled into the bed together, relaxing against each other. Remus rested his head against Sirius' shoulder, and the older boy responded by wrapping him with his arm.

"I know I'm a bit stupid," Sirius said lowly, and Remus pricked his ears to listen. Sirius sounded unusually sombre. "But I don't like sharing all my personal stories, you know? It's something that boys just don't do."

Remus chuckled. "_This_ is something boys just don't do," he replied. "We do _lots_ of things boys just don't do." To illustrate his point, he turned slightly and ran a trail of kisses across Sirius' naked chest. When he got no reaction, he parted his lips, pressing his mouth hotly against Sirius' skin, tracing one stubborn nipple with his tongue. Sirius sucked in his breath defiantly. "Well," Remus said in tones of mock-offense, drawing back, "perhaps I should just stop."

He sat up straight, and Sirius watched him with a sneer. After a tense pause, Sirius' broad hand reached out and closed around Remus' neck. "Tease," the brunet growled, sounding altogether unhappy, and pulled Remus close, sharply, and into a brutal kiss. Remus returned it with fervour.

"You're lucky I love you," Sirius mumbled against Remus' mouth, jaw, as he pressed wet and not altogether un-doggy-ish kisses up the side of Remus' unshaven face. "'Cause you annoy the hell outta me sometimes."

"Liar," Remus replied, turning his head so Sirius could press his kiss deeper, and nipping distractedly at the older boy's earlobe.

"Yeah, I am," Sirius said. "You annoy the hell outta me all the time."

"You can always go back to your own bed, you know," Remus said, his breath hot in Sirius' ear as they moved against each other. Sirius had his face buried now in Remus' neck, snuffling in his hair.

"Well, I could," Sirius said, his voice somewhat muffled, "but I do think the best way to stop _you_ annoying _me_ is for me to start annoying you... and to do that I most definitely need to stay here."

"My, that is annoying, indeed," Remus said, wrapping his arms around Sirius' back, against his cool skin, and pulling their bodies together forcefully. One of Sirius' hands was tracing a ticklish path down Remus' chest, lower, lower... "Oh, getting more annoying are we?"

"_Most_ annoying."

"Well," Remus said, sniffing in a sharp breath as Sirius' hand wound its way beneath his waistband, "I do think we've had rather too much to drink to allow..." Remus' voice trailed off as Sirius began to move his hand slowly, his other hand at the nape of Remus' neck, their lips meeting again in a heady passion.

The teasing was forgotten, as suddenly as it had started. "That silencing charm working?" Sirius whispered urgently.

"Perfectly," Remus replied, pushing Sirius down flat on the bed and following suit, though his positioning was somewhat lower... He wriggled out of his boxers and pulled off Sirius' as well.

"Jolly good," Sirius said, in a voice somewhat higher and more strained than it had been a moment before. Remus glanced up at him; Sirius was staring up at the canopy, his dark hair spread like a black fan on Remus' gold pillows. He reached out, tracing the lines of Sirius' body with his hands; hard lines, soft lines... mostly hard, male, and all of them Sirius. Firm lines of belly and abdominal muscles, sharp angle of hip bones.

"I remember the first time I touched you," Remus murmured, distracted. "In the common room that first night. When we were just beginning."

"Absolute beginners," Sirius agreed, propping himself up to meet Remus' eyes. One of his hands closed on top of Remus', over the brunet's chest.

The werewolf gave a small snort of laughter. "Well, not absolute," he said. "As we all attested to tonight."

"We were beginners with each other," Sirius insisted, reaching out for Remus and kissing him. Remus felt he was supposed to reply, but shortly after that first kiss, there was no more need for words. There was enough said in touches, in movements, in the hot slide of skin on skin, on the way Sirius' hands were tangled so tightly in Remus' hair, in the way Remus felt his teeth bite into Sirius' clavicle. Physical language said more than words ever could.

Afterwards, they lay side by side with the blankets pushed back, touching only just, skin hot and flushed, a sheen of sweat covering them both. At Sirius' request Remus once again tested his silencing charm. It seemed the conversation earlier that night had made him paranoid.

The brunet relaxed into the bed after the check showed they were still safe. His head flopped to the side and Remus met his eyes. They were shadowed with fatigue and the lingering effects of the vast amounts of alcohol they had all consumed, but they were smiling eyes all the same. His grin was lazy, and there were sordid secrets hidden within it and Sirius said slyly, "Not beginners anymore, are we?" and chuckled softly.

Remus returned the smile, but spoke in his usual calm way, "Certainly not. And I don't think either of us are complaining."

"Oh no," Sirius assured him and ran one hand through the tangles he had twisted into Remus' hair. "I absolutely love you, you know."

"I know," Remus said, pressing a chaste kiss to his lover's forehead. "I'm very grateful for it."

Sirius pouted. "As lovely as that is, you're actually meant to say, 'I love you too'."

Remus smiled. "Oh, sorry. Right then: _I love you too, Sirius, most brave and beautiful man, superb lover, saviour of my soul_ –"

"Alright," Sirius said, and he was still pouting. "Can we leave the diatribes to me please? I do them so much better than you do."

"Yes you do," Remus said. "I cannot argue with that." He yawned.

"Worn yourself out," Sirius said softly, but his face bore the cheekiest and most smug smile Remus could remember ever seeing in his whole young life.

"Yes, well, I hope my effort was worth it."

"Oh, honey, it was. You're the nazz, Remus."

"Thank you, puppy. I'm glad you approve," Remus said and kissed Sirius again, on the lips this time. For a moment they simply looked at each other through the gloomy light cast from the wand on the headboard, then, finally, Remus put out the light, rolled over, and went to sleep.

* * *

A/N: I hope everyone read the disclaimer and warning up there, just in case. And I sincerely hope the chapter was worth the wait! I will aspire to get the last one up quickly. Thank you! :)


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